I would not have wanted to mess with Rena ‘Rusty’ Kanokogi, ‘The Mother Of Judo’ if I met her along the way. But I do sure wish I had met her. My kinda gal. She defied the rules and shattered the glass ceiling for women to be taken seriously in sports. I love stories of pioneers and triumph over adversity and if you do too you’ll love her story.
Jean Kanokogi considered “the daughter of judo” grew up on the mats with her Mom. Jean is now a Senior Special Agent for the U.S. Government, a fifth degree black belt and highly respected sensei (teacher) of judo. (Not messin’ with her either). Her mom, ‘Rusty’ passed 12 years ago and Jean finally finished the book they started writing together which comes out June 1st. Hope you’ll listen to Jean tell some of the story on our conversation. That ‘Rusty’ was sumthin!
Raised mostly by members of a boardwalk ‘freak show’ family on Coney Island in the 50’s, this young jewish gal “Rusty’ from Brooklyn was the leader of a girl gang who just wanted to fight. ‘Rusty’ had a lot of pent up energy and that was the way she released it. Until…
As a young married woman while accompanying her first husband to an AA meeting to support his battle with alcoholism, ‘Rusty’ met a friend there who was in unbelievable shape. She asked him what he did to get into that shape. He said ‘Judo”. She said. “What the heck is Judo”? So he picks up this big strong woman like a piece of paper onto his hip and she says, “That’s it! Whatever it is you’re doing I’m going to learn it. ”
One day this Jewish gal named “Rusty’ walked into the Utica, NY Young Mens Christian Association (YMCA). A move completely unheard of at the time. She asked to take the Judo class they were offering but they said sorry, women are not allowed. Grrr. She persisted. The year was 1959. The YMCA finally agreed to let her take a Judo class on some days but only if she agreed she’d teach an existing YMCA class to women on other days. The ads for the YMCA classes in the newspaper read something like this. ‘Come learn to be a good wife and serve your husband and press his pants but also come take a Judo class with Rusty’. LOL
Then one day the Utica YMCA Male Judo Team was competing in the Championships and was about to win, when a teammate got hurt. To save the day, the coach asked ‘Rusty’ who had gone along, to just go in and substitute but told her, “Don’t call attention to yourself”. Just call a draw. Well that didn’t happen.
‘Rusty’ who looked kind of androgynous with her short hair, wrapped her chest up with an ace bandage and went in and beat the living daylights out of her opponent . She won the Gold Medal. However when it was discovered she was a woman, they told her she had to give back her medal. Boy was she angry! She gave it back but only so her team didn’t have to forfeit. That anger fueled the start of ‘Rusty’s 50 year journey to make sure no other woman in sport would ever suffer the injustice of not being able to compete and win purely based on gender.
Rena ‘Rusty’ Kanokogi founded, organized and financed the first Women’s World Judo Championships, held at Madison Square Garden in New York City on November 29 and 30, 1980, putting women’s judo on the map and earning the United States the international women’s level competition status required to qualify for inclusion in the Olympic Games. She has been recognized as “the mother of women’s judo” for her inarguable contribution to the sport. She was the first woman to rise to the rank of seventh–degree black belt. In 2008 she was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette from the Emperor’s Order of Japan for her lifelong contribution to the promotion of judo. Her ashes are interred in the Kanokogi Samurai family grave site in Kumamoto, Japan, marked with the epitaph “American Samurai.”
A street in Brooklyn has been named Rena “Rusty” Kanokogi Way.
Members of the Kanokogi family pose with New York City Council Member Mark Treyger and the Rena “Rusty” Kanokogi Way street sign on Oct. 27, 2019 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Get Up & Fight: The Memoir of Rena “Rusty” Kanokogi, The Mother of Women’s Judo
By Rena “Rusty” Kanokogi & Jean Kanokogi, PhD
Foreword by Billie Jean King
Second Foreword by the late Dick Schaap
Jean Kanokogi by the way was one of the original signers of the American Civil Liberty Union suit to fight for women’s rights in the sport of judo. She mentors high-risk youth, earned her PhD (a promise to Rusty!) and serves on the evaluation committee for the Rusty Kanokogi Fund for the Advancement of US Judo a scholarship program managed by the Women’s Sports Foundation.
Black & White Photo Credit Above: Peter Perazio
