Jerry Hays

        Jerry Hays walked into the Phoenix, Arizona Boys Club as a (nearly) 14 year-old boy, beginning a judo career that extended for decades, throughout his career in the U.S. Navy, followed by an additional 15 years as a civilian working for the Navy, training, competing, teaching, and establishing clubs on 5 different ships, including a stint at famed Watanabe’s dojo in Yokosuka, Japan.

       Best known as American judo’s archivist, he began the work of collecting American judo’s written and photographic history, amassing a collection of over 250,000 documents from the United States, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom during his 14-year tenure as chair of the USJF’s Historical Committee.