Ben Nighthorse Campbell (furthest right in the picture), a Cheyenne Indian who competed in the 1964 Olympics, and later served 12 years as a US senator, died on December 30 at the age of 92.
According to the New York Times, Campbell was introduced to judo by migrants he had met working in California’s agricultural fields as a boy. While serving in the Korean War, he began studying judo. After being discharged in the early 1950s, he attended San Jose State University, which had a strong judo program. He became its captain.
From 1960 to 1964, Campbell studied and trained at a university in Japan. He earned a gold medal at the Pan American Games in 1963 and represented the US at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics where judo was included for the first time. After retirement, he authored a book: “Championship Judo: Drill Training” (1974).
