Patrick Mitsugi Burris (born December 28, 1950) is a retired competitive

judoka is an unarmed modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponica, "Judo"). ...

who represented the

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at the

1972 Summer Olympic Games The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

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and the

1976 Summer Olympic Games Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phil ...

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. He won the bronze medal at the

1975 Pan American Games The 1975 Pan American Games were held in Mexico City, Mexico, from October 12 to October 26, 1975, exactly twenty years after the second Pan American Games were held there. It was the third major sporting event held in the Mexican capital in seve ...

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in the men's lightweight division at 70 kg. Burris is a five time US national senior AAU champion, including an unprecedented four straight championships. He was named 1976 US national Grand Champion (best in all weight classes) – the lightest Grand Champion ever. Burris was a standout in both wrestling and judo as a youth at

Rancho Alamitos High School Rancho Alamitos High School is in Garden Grove, California. It is a member of the Garden Grove Unified School District and serves north-central Garden Grove and a section of Stanton. The high school first opened in the spring of 1957 with no sen ...

Garden Grove, California Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, located just southwest of Disneyland (located in Anaheim, CA). The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, ...

, where he won a bronze medal in the Southern California Interscholastic Federation Wrestling finals. He demonstrated his potential in judo when he won his first national championship as a sophomore. He went on to attend

Santa Ana Junior College Santa Ana College is a public community college in Santa Ana, California. History In 1915, Santa Ana Junior College opened its doors to 25 students as a department of Santa Ana High School. It was the second community college founded in Orange ...

where, in the 1969–1970 wrestling season, he compiled a 36–1 record before winning the California State Junior College championship at 150 lbs. In judo, he won the 1968 National Junior judo championship at 150 lbs and the Southern Pacific AAU championship at 139 lbs and 150 lbs in 1968 and 1969. He placed third in the US Men's National Tournament in 1969. Burris transferred to the

University of Northern Colorado The University of Northern Colorado (UNC) is a public university in Greeley, Colorado. The university was founded in 1889 as the State Normal School of Colorado and has a long history in teacher education. The institution has officially changed ...

(UNC) in Greeley where he became a two-time Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champion wrestling for the Bears at 150 lbs in 1971 and 1972. He graduated from UNC with a bachelor's degree in Education in 1972. In April 1972, less than two months after participating in the NCAA College Division wrestling tournament in

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, Burris won the US National Senior Men's Judo championship in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

by throwing a previous US national champion,

Paul Maruyama Lecturer Paul Kuniaki Maruyama (born October 27, 1941 in Tokyo) was a member of the first American team to compete in judo in the Summer Olympics. Judo was first included in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Maruyama was born in Kugayama, Toky ...

, something that had never been done. This earned him the right to represent the United States Olympic judo team that year. Shortly after the 1976 Summer Olympics, Burris returned to northern Colorado and began his coaching career at Fort Lupton High School when he was named Head Wrestling Coach in late August. After moving to Oklahoma in 1985, he coached Ron Tripp to a 1994 world heavyweight championship in

sambo , aka = Sombo (in English-speaking countries) , focus = Hybrid , country = Soviet Union , pioneers = Viktor Spiridonov, Vasili Oshchepkov, Anatoly Kharlampiev , famous_pract = List of Practitioners , oly ...

. He also coached the men's 1996 judo team in the

1996 Summer Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

where

Jimmy Pedro James A. Pedro (born October 30, 1970) is an American retired World Championship and Olympic judoka and current judo coach. Pedro currently holds a 7th degree black belt in judo. He is the coach of Kayla Harrison, the first American ever to w ...

won a bronze medal at 71 kg. Multiple Olympians and United States National Champions have been successful under Sensei Pat's tutelage. Burris currently owns a Dojo in

Moore, Oklahoma Moore is a city in Cleveland County, Oklahoma, United States, and is part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. The population was 62,793 at the 2020 census, making Moore the seventh-largest city in the state of Oklahoma. Located between Oklah ...

named USA Stars which also has a branch in

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

. He was promoted to the judo rank of kudan (9th degree black belt) in November of 2021 by USA Judo.

References

External links

SportsReference.com Olympic Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burris, Patrick 1950 births Living people American male judoka Judoka at the 1972 Summer Olympics Judoka at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic judoka of the United States Sportspeople from Hawaii Judoka at the 1975 Pan American Games Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States Pan American Games medalists in judo Medalists at the 1975 Pan American Games