Yoshihiro Uchida, the longtime San Jose State University coach who helped establish judo as one of the most popular martial arts in America — and who was widely regarded as the best U.S. college judo coach in history — died June 27 at his home in Saratoga, California. He was 104.

His daughter Lydia Uchida-Sakai confirmed the death.

The son of Japanese immigrants, Uchida, who went by the nickname Yosh, began coaching judo at San Jose State in the 1940s, while he was still a student there.