Coshocton native and judo master dies
COSHOCTON — A Coshocton native important to the proliferation of martial arts in the United States has died.
C. Douglas Grant of Columbus died May 9 at the age of 90 at the Mill Run Care Center in Hilliard. Funeral services were Friday and he was buried at Blendon Central Cemetery in Westerville.
Grant served as a paratrooper during the Korean War. As he told the Tribune in 2014, he came upon a man in a field doing strange exercises one morning while serving overseas. Grant approached the man and struck up a conversation. He turned out to be Kwon Soo Bo, Korean national judo champion.
Martial arts historians credit Grant for being one of 11 originators of the discipline in the U.S. He founded the first martial arts school in Ohio and introduced the sport to the annual Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus. It helped to transform the event from a mere bodybuilding competition to a showcase of numerous activities such as fencing, archery, fitness, dance and many combat styles.
“We can have more athletes and involve more kids than they have in the Olympics,” Grant said of the festival in 2014. “We’re touching on all kinds of sports.”
Grant was a former Police Olympic Judo Champion, was inducted into the Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 2009 and was the recipient of the Arnold Schwarzenegger Martial Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.
Grant was also a retired sergeant with the Worthington Police Department, worked as a professional wrestler and was coach of the Worthington Recreation Judo Club for 20 years. He was a life member of Capital City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 9 and Veterans of Foreign Wars.
This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Coshocton native and judo master dies
