James "Jimmy" Pedro Sr (born November 6, 1946[1]) is a former national level judoka from the United States and an alternate for the US 1976 Olympicjudo team.
[2] Jimmy Pedro started Judo at the age of 19,[3] earning his black belt in 2 years.[4] Jimmy won the black belt division at the 1971 Taka Invitational Tournament,[5] and went on to win the 1972 New England AAU Tournament.[6] He earned bronze in the 1974 Senior Nationals,[7] and bronze in the 1974 Pan American Championships.[8] Jimmy trained with Olympians Jimmy Martin and Pat Burris and was selected[9] to take part in the 1975 American Team to Challenge Europe's best judoka.[10] In the US National Championships, James earned a silver in 1978, a bronze in 1979, and a silver in 1980.[8] In 1978, Jimmy Pedro was selected to the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame as a judo coach.[11] He coached his son, Jimmy Pedro who became the first person from the U.S. to take home two Olympic medals.,[12] and went on to be selected as the 2012 US Olympic Team Assistant Coach.[13]
