Allen Coage

Allen Coage started his judo career very late – when he was 22. But only two years later he won the AAU heavyweight championship. He repeated as AAU heavyweight champion in 1968, 1969, 1970 and 1975; and in 1970 he won the open division at that tournament. In addition to national titles, Coage won gold medals at both the 1967 and 1975 Pan American Games. With his bronze medal at Montreal, Coage, a fifth dan black belt, became the first American black to win an individual medal in a sport other than track & field, boxing, or weightlifting. Coage spent some time as a professional bodyguard for singer Aretha Franklin, and later wrestled professionally as “Bad News Brown”.