Philip S. Porter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Philip S. Porter is a martial artist with a long history of involvement in a variety of martial arts in the United States, including boxing and judo.
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[edit] Professional History
Porter served in the United States Air Force for twenty years, retiring as a major.
[edit] Martial Arts History
Porter began boxing in 1943 and in 1951 began studying judo, jujutsu and karate. He studied judo from the famous British judoka Trevor Leggett. His judo competitive record includes placing in the US Senior Nationals in 1973 and winning gold medals in national-level Masters (over-30) competitions four times in the 1970s and 1980s.
His judo refereeing history includes refereeing or rule-writing at the international level for many years, including participating in writing the rules for the first Olympic judo competition in 1964.
As a coach, he is said to have produced over 1,000 national and international medalists.
Porter has been inducted into many martial arts Hall of Fame rolls.
[edit] Controversies involving Phil Porter
In 2004, Porter accepted a 10th dan rank in judo from an American martial arts organization. This rank was not recognized by the Kodokan, the de facto center of worldwide judo, The International Judo Federation, or the recognized US Judo organizations. At the time, there were no recognized 10th dans in judo, and had not been for some years. The Kodokan recently made three promotions to 10th dan.
Other controversies involve the circumstances surrounding his removal from office as president of the USJA, his ceaseless fundraising, and his liberal rank promotion policies while in office.
