King's Kung-Fu& Tai Chi

John Watts

American judoka

Born
23 April 1944, Jefferson
Citizenship
United States
Sport
judo
Occupation
judoka
Height
193 cm (6 ft 4 in)

John Watts (born April 23, 1944) is a retired American judoka who competed at the 1972 Olympics in the open weight category. Watts weighed 280 lbs when he started training in judo in August 1966 and that year entered the Air Force Championships where he defeated Paul Maruyama. Watts was quickly promoted to brown belt, and placed in the 1967 US Nationals. He also competed in the International Military Sports Council games.

John Watts was born in Texas and played football there. He was offered a scholarship to play football by Grambling and Florida A&M but chose to join the Air Force.

Competitions

CompetitionYearResult
1972 Summer Olympics1972

External links

Facts from Wikidata Q19578224 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.

Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.