Established in 1954, Sooner Judo Club is one of the oldest judo schools in Oklahoma. It was formed as a student club at the University of Oklahoma by Dr. Percy Buchanan, who earned a first-degree Black Belt while studying in Japan.
In 1962, Buchanan took on a purely advisory role, so club leadership fell to OU student Joel Holloway, who was only a brown belt when he started leading classes. However, over his judo career, Dr. Holloway became a 20-time National Kata Champion and winner of the 1994 World Kata Overall Grand Champion Award in Brisbane, Australia. He was awarded an eighth-degree black belt in 2016.
In the 1970s, the club moved off campus and became a freestanding private non-profit organization. Classes were held at several locations around Norman, OK, including the YMCA and a storefront on Main Street.
In 1980, twenty founding members formed Norman Associates, LLC to build a permanent home for the Sooner Judo Club at 117 Skylane Drive. For reasons lost to time, they chose to classify the building as a “Judo Club & Dance Hall” — a historical quirk that has become a standing joke among members.
Dr. Holloway retired as head sensei in 2012 and passed club leadership to Steve Kenton, a fourth-degree black belt, National Referee, and former President of the Oklahoma Judo Association. Kenton and his wife also obtained full ownership of the property thanks to the generosity of the remaining founding members.
Kenton was passionate about community building, so he opened the dojo to other non-profit martial arts organizations that needed space. The longest-running of these partnerships has been with Primitive Sports BJJ.
Due to illness, Kenton stepped down as head sensei in 2023 after ensuring that a core group of members was ready to carry Sooner Judo Club into the future.
