Historical USA Judo Promotions#
All promotions of yodan (fourth degree or higher) must be approved by the USA Judo Promotion Committee. The following is a listing of promotions issued by the committee from 2014 to present.
Approved at the November 22, 2024, USA Judo Rank and Certification Task Force Meeting
Kudan (9th Degree)
- Maurice Allen
- James Hrbek
Schichidan (7th Degree)
- Bradley Daniels
- Vickie Daniels
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Jerry Cypert
- Seung Jun Oh
- Ralph Palmer
Godan (5th Degree)
- Mark Staniszewski
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Joshua Cypert
- Russell Hogan
- Jeffrey Poole
- Grace Talusan
- Oswaldo Viloria
- Tim Wilson
Approved at the June 13, 2024, USA Judo Rank and Certification Task Force Meeting
Schichidan (7th Degree)
- Peter Babjak
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Roy Englert
- Marti Malloy
- George Uema
Godan (5th Degree)
- Shong Chiu
- Koji Fukumoto
- Ramon Hernandez
- Hector Lans
- Hideyuki Ohtake
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Kevin Costello
- Sanjoy Ghosh
- Alexander Murray
- William Nakahara
- Gordon Nelson
- Chad Purdy
Approved at the February 29, 2024, USA Judo Rank and Certification Task Force Meeting
Godan (5th Degree)
- John Taylor
- Flor Angelena Velazquez Artahona
Yodan (4th Degree)
- John Amtmann
- Katarzyna Lapinska Jablonski
- Taizo Sasaki
- Joshua White
Approved at the November 15, 2023, USA Judo Rank and Certification Task Force Meeting
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Damon Keeve
- David Long
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Edie Connelly
Godan (5th Degree)
- Aloisio Soares
- Greg Trude
- John Jayne
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Harun Bogdanic
- Adham Ramadan
- Yasuo Tamaka
Approved at the August 24, 2023, USA Judo Rank and Certification Task Force Meeting
Godan (5th Degree)
- Saribek Balagezyan
- Susan Reed Regan
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Robert Borisch
- Suzanne Delong
Nidan (2nd Degree)
- Leonardo Yordan Merino Velazco
Approved at the May 25, 2023, USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Gary Berquist
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Craig Agena
Godan (5th Degree)
- David Allen
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Greg Gutman
- Arthur Scotto
- John Semetko
- George Van Amson
Approved at the March 9, 2023, USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Dick Tashiro
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Jose Carricarte
- Clinton Nickelson
Approved at the Nov. 18, 2022 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Godan (5th Degree)
- Brian Money
- Hector Negron
- R. Dana Rucker
- Francis Torres
- Humberto Valdivia
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Thomas Hughes - pass
- Shane Thompson
- Brad Yamanaka
- Jarrod Yamanaka
- Gary Foster
Approved at the Nov. 18, 2022 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- Louis Moyerman
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Sauveur Soriano
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Daniel Brown
- Diane Manganaro
- Ricardo Mendez
- Robert Okada
- George Stein
Approved at the May 25, 2022 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Nicolas Yonezuka
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Ray Hosokawa
- Eberhard Kieslich
Godan (5th Degree)
- Tracy Crawford
- Liane Harada
- Nicole Harada
- Rajesh Karmacharya
- Glenn St. John
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Toshiko Arriola
- Jeffrey Ficek
- Stephen Zerr
Approved at the March 3, 2022 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Margarita Cabrera
- Dionisio de la Torre
- Heidi Moore
- Stephen Scott Moore
Godan (5th Degree)
- Ghalib Carmichael
- Roger Crocker
- Charles Wall
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Nausikaa Davis
- Hideki Hayashi
- Christian Landel
- Alexander Semenenko
- David Sigg
Approved at the Nov. 19, 2021 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- Arkadiy Aronov
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Parnell Legros
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Anthony Catanese
- William Graves
- Lance Nading
Godan (5th Degree)
- Blaine Duhs
- Mark Graham
- Willard Jules
- Serge Kuleshov
- Edward Musikantow
- Satoshi Nakama
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Sishir Chang
- Christopher Cummings
- Jonathan Fernandez
- Brian Money
- Garry St. Leger
- Stefan Habsburg
Approved at the August 26, 2021 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Hector Morales-Negron
Godan (5th Degree)
- Maxence Ariza
- Aaron Cohen
- Richard Cohen
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Ross MacBaisey
- Kirk Quinones
- Matthew Scheib
- Gregory Pennington
Approved at the May 19, 2021 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Godan (5th Degree)
- John Green
- Sharon Landstreet
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Ken Barlow
- Clinton Dake
- Oren Knopfmacher
Approved at the February 25, 2021 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Godan (5th Degree)
- Michael Martyn
- Feliks Sverdlin
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Ian Gerrard
- Lesley Hutchins
- David Osaghae
- Thomas Pirtle
- Benjamin Weber
- Sanichiro Yoshida
Approved at the November 19, 2020 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Amy Ehlenfeldt
Godan (5th Degree)
- Taalaibek Tynaliev
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Henry Jeff LeForce
Approved at the October 22, 2020 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- Gary Berliner
- Ed Liddie
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Simon Childs
- Greg Moore
- Gerry Navarro
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Pedro Kolychkine
- Eve Arnoff-Trivella
- Martin Vorum
- Brett Wolf
Godan (5th Degree)
- Charlee Minkin
- William Perron
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Scott Goldstein
- Lincoln Han
- Luis Soto
Approved at the September 17, 2020 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- Marc Vink
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Chris McDonald
- Pan McDonald
Godan (5th Degree)
- Michael Miller
- Edgardo Rodriguez
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Michael Dunn
- Johnny Rivera-Marquez
- Justin Smith
Approved at the September 17, 2020 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- Tom Sebasty
- Jerome Vessichio
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Mark Frankel
Godan (5th Degree)
- Kevin Butler
- Stephen Friedman
- Alexandre Lopouchanski
- Melvin Magata
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Robert Parsons
Approved at the May 15, 2020 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Majemite Mogbaluwaje
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Carla Martin
Godan (5th Degree)
- Edward Wilkes
Yodan (4th Degree)
- John Jayne
- Amber Jones
- Donald Stickley
- Nick Wolak
Approved at the September 17, 2020 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Godan (5th Degree)
- Michael Martyn
- Feliks Sverdlin
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Ian Gerrard
- Lesley Hutchins
- David Osaghae
- Thomas Pirtle
- Benjamin Weber
- Sanichiro Yoshido
Approved at the November 22, 2019 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- William Abbott
- David Smith
Godan (5th Degree)
- David Cheverie
- Charles Clark
- Lazaro Diaz
- Neal Takamoto
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Andy Bosijevac
- Kunihito Fumioka
- Urbano Hernandez
- Charles Schmidt
Approved at the May 31, 2019 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Tarek Monier
- Michael Takata
- Kevin Tamai
Godan (5th Degree)
- Marcos Batan
- Glen Campbell
- Wayne Dickinson
- Abdel Fernandez
- Katherine Huff
- James Irvine
- Yung Ling
- Henry Okamura
- Matt Simmons
- Gerardo Tello
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Henry Hummel
- Michael Poster
Approved at the February 28, 2019 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Godan (5th Degree)
- Wilburn Newcomer
- John Peterson
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Javier Garriga
- James Holland
- Thuyy Nguyen
- David Predmore
- Dan Rusu
Approved at the November 16th, 2018 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- James Peterson
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Michael Landstreet
- Terrance Smith
Godan (5th Degree)
- Brian Levitt
- Dimitri Nazeri
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Andres Andreu
- Bryan Frazier
- Jesse Ingram
- Jeff Lang
- John Moseley
- Robin Puahala
Approved at the August 30, 2018 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Low Dong
- Michael McCleery
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Robert Burns
- Michael Campbell
- Robin Chow
- Lloyd Llamas
- Antonio Prado
- Michael Woodson
Godan (5th Degree)
- Jonathon Bertsch
- Eduard Kalika
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Michael Arcuri
- David Davidson
- Steven Kenton
- Justin Winn
Approved at the May 11, 2018 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- Joseph Marchal
- Rene Zeelenburg
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Richard Copenhagen
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Paulo Augusto
- Simon Childs
- Kent Myers
- Mark Waldron
Godan (5th Degree)
- Steven Alphabet
- Randall Barnes
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Luis Bonilla Depaz
- Kerry Davis
Approved at the February 22, 2018 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Nikolai Styrov
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Kim Mesa
Godan (5th Degree)
- Roger Jackson
- John T. Jacobson
- Joseph Ragan
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Konstantinos Gkikas
- Ralph Lahoud
- Wade Leitner
- Shawn Madden
- Hector Negron
- Carlos Sordo
Approved at the November 17, 2017 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- Dale Lehman
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Mark Dantzler
- Miguel Lopez
Godan (5th Degree)
- Nina Cutro-Kelly
- James Hunt
- Hwa Young Jeong
- James Kinder
- Michael Ostrowski
- Titus Selagea
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Kenneth Altman
- Elizabeth Berliner
- Joe Fico
- Ernesto Grenet
- Cheri McKeown
Approved at the July 27, 2017 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- James Harai
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Robert Crowin
- Mickey Davenport
- George Weers
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Jeffery Przybilla
Godan (5th Degree)
- Gerald Conkle
- Fernando Herrera Fraga
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Soora Wi
- Alaa El Idrissi
Approved at the April 28, 2017 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Kudan (9th Degree)
- Ryohei Kanokogi
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Robert Donaldson
- Tommy Dyer
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Roger Mazzella
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Scott Galles
- Lawrence McWalters
- Ryan Minster
- Randall Rhodes
- Anthony Roscoe
- Graeme Strachan
Approved at the February 23, 2017 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Randy Leatherwood
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Tsutomu Miki
- Richard Nowak
Godan (5th Degree)
- Roberto Alvarez
- Kenneth Brink
- Ron Lisangan
- William Philips
- Juan Taboado
- Calvin Terada
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Benjamin Franklin
- Rajesh Karmacharya
- Sirena Konishi Rohde
- Stuart Ramos
Approved at the November 18, 2016 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Jamie Livergood
- Ruben Martin
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Doug Newcomer
Godan (5th Degree)
- David Malek
- Jason Russell
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Maxence Ariza
- Suhil Bagighni
- Robert Golden
Approved at the September 29, 2016 USA Judo Promotion Committee
Kudan (9th Degree)
- Willy Cahill
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- James Pedro
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Richard Moss
- Jimmy Pedro
- Gary Takemoto
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Dennis Staral
Godan (5th Degree)
- Eddie Arrazacaeta
- James Carmer
- Devin Cohen
- Seung Jun Oh
- Bob Perez
- Dionisio de La Torre Jr.
- Adrian Rivera
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Michael Berkowitz
- Brenda Cook
- Keith Lewis
- Jessica Lockfield
- Akbar Moghtader
- Aloisio Soares
- Paul Sollicito
- Eric Welch
Approved at the July 7, 2016 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- Teimoc Johnston-Ono
- Eiko Shepherd
- Donald Trussell
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- David Faulkner
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Kristi Burris
- Chester Evans
- Mikhail Kozitskiy
- Sami Tadehara
Godan (5th Degree)
- Craig Agena
- Jorge Delgado
- John Gussman
- Yahya Houssni
- Mark Olson
- Buck Snider
- Linda Yiannakis
- Sherri Wilson
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Andre Campos
- Blaine Duhs
- Douglas Ham
- Serge Kuleshov
- Edgardo Rodriguez
Approved at the February 25, 2016 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Kudan (9th Degree)
- Hayward Nishioka
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Joel Holloway
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Adam Blackburn
- Pierre Cazares
- Gregory Chow
- Michael Heilman
- Howard Higgins
- Patricia Laiacona
- Samir Peysakhov
Godan (5th Degree)
- Jean Kanokogi
- Phuc Nguyen
- John Walla
Yodan (4th Degree)
- James McGovern
- Cindy Peterson
- Donald Pierce
- Gregory Ware
- David Wojcik
Approved at the August 6, 2015 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Derrick Kerr
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Dan Augustine
Godan (5th Degree)
- Ricardo Menendez
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Joseph Ragan
- Jason Reinders
- Dana Rucker
Approved at the May 5, 2015 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Charels Wall (NJ)
- Jacqueline White
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Herve Aka
- Paul Holder
- Daniel Lee
- William Perron
- Harold Pritchett
- Charles Wall (VA)
Approved at the March 5, 2015 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Frank Bonanno
- James DeFreest
- Ronnie Nicholson
- Sule Sumalia
- John Taylor
Godan (5th Degree)
- Margarita Cabrera
- Philip Davis
Rokudan (6th Degree)
Approved at the November 23, 2014 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- James Hrbek
- Lowell Slaven
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- James Branson
- John Branson
- Bradley Daniels
- John Phillips Jr.
Godan (5th Degree)
- Eve Aronoff-Trivella
- Daniel Brown
- Harold Yamada
Yodan (4th Degree)
- David Allen
- Martin Boonzaayer
- Howdice Brown Jr.
- Kevin Butler
Approved at the August 28, 2014 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- Leo White
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- David Williams
Godan (5th Degree)
- Gregg Humphreys
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Chay Chinsethagid
- Kelley Defoor
- Earl Fukuhara
- Sharon Landstreet
- Michael Minton
- Christopher Van Landingham
Approved at the May 3, 2014 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Kudan (9th Degree)
- Luis Guardia
- Edwin Maley
- Hal Sharp
Hachidan (8th Degree)
- James Webb
Shichidan (7th Degree)
- Jack Krystsek
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Michael Pechina
Godan (5th Degree)
- Ghazaros Grigoryan
- Arden Reid
- Robert Schultheis
- William Shanahan
- George Stein
- Charley Wheeler
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Jonathan Bertsch
Approved at the March 6, 2014 USA Judo Promotion Committee Meeting
Rokudan (6th Degree)
- Frank Costa
- Jack Hicks
- Robert (Ken) Patteson
Godan (5th Degree)
- Diane Manganaro
Yodan (4th Degree)
- Roger Anderson
- George Golda
- Yung-Ming Ling
- Hale Newcomer
Complete USA Judo Promotion List
ViewView all USA Judo promotions of shodan (1st degree) or higher.