L to R: International Judo Hall of Fame President, Marius Vizer and Dr. Andor-P-Jobb of Emlenton as Andor is elected into the International Judo Hall of Fame.
Dr. Andor Jobb has been inducted into The International Judo Federation Hall Of Fame.On August 4, 2023, in Budapest, Hungary Dr. Jobb received this prestigious honor from IJF President, Marius Vizer at the Gala celebrating the 2023 Hungary World Masters Judo Championships held August 4-6 at the Laszlo Papp Budapest Sports Arena.
What started as a last hurrah trip overseas to visit family members and pursue a research project, ended up as an overwhelming surprise and honor for this Emlenton resident. First, they traveled to Crete, the largest of the Greek islands, to visit some of Jae’s family members, and to enjoy the amenities of a resort recently constructed in the island’s South, beneath Mt. Psiloritis, within a grove of ancient olive trees.
Dr. Andor P-Jobb, is pictured here
holding an authentic replica of
the ancient Phaistos Disk, that he
hopes to someday have translated.
Andor had a portrait he was finishing for delivery in Hungary and welcomed the opportunity of working in the world-famous light of Southern Crete. He also wished to do some research on an ancient Phaistos Disk — a disk of fired clay from the island of Crete, possibly from the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age that a colleague, Dr. Peter Revesz of the University of Nebraska, was attempting to translate. From Crete, the couple traveled to Hungary and the spa town of Hévíz where they spent a month bathing in the springs and following a prescribed regime of massage an therapy. Hévíz is located at Lake Hévíz, the world’s second-largest thermal lake that has been a resort since Roman times. From there they went to Budapest, the capital and largest city of Hungary, where they stayed at a favorite hotel on the banks of the Danube not far from where Andor often swam as a boy growing up in Budapest.
As Andor arrived in Budapest he was almost immediately contacted by the international Judo Association (IJF) and was told that a new book had been published by Dr. Colin C. Draycott of England (with IJF’s endorsement) and that Andor had been mentioned in the book. IJF wanted Andor to drop by to pick up a copy of the book that Colin had left for him. While visiting the office, with great interest, the IJF officials were very inquisitive about Andor’s achievements in world master judo. They asked many questions about his astonishing credentials that were mentioned in Draycott’s new book, “The Path”. This was a part of Andor’s history about which they knew nothing, and they were absolutely amazed to learn of the seminal role that Andor had played in establishing world master judo. In “The Path”, it was stated that in 1998 Andor was one of four founders of an organization, that invented the concept of ‘World Masters’ international judo competition for judoka over 30 years of age. They called themselves the World Master Athlete Judo Association, (WMJA), and Andor is now the only surviving member of the founders. Learning this, it became very important to IJF to be able to honor Andor as a founder of the ‘conceptual’ organization for World Master Judo that in 2024 shall become an actual Olympic Category. Of course, they had long known about Andor’s book, “The Judo Greats”, a Portrait Series for which President Vizer had written the introduction, and they had recently received their copy of the fourth edition printed by Staab Typographic of Emlenton, Pennsylvania. Andor’s book, co-produced by his wife Jae, has been of great interest to the Judo community since it features his portraits of many outstanding contributors to the world of Judo, including Judo’s founder, Dr. Kano, Jigoro, whose likeness appears in each of the portraits featured in the book. The conversation then led to Andor’s community involvement with youth, such as his work since 1963 with his HUN judo dojo - the 2nd oldest dojo in the US under the direction of the founding sensei, which he founded at the Clarion University of Pennsylvania, his decades of service with the inter-collegiate judo associations, and of his pride in being a founding member of the board of directors for the local Boys & Girls Club Along the Allegheny.
The International Judo Federation took over WMJA in 2014, it is the international governing body of judo founded in 1951. The IJF has 200 National Federations on all continents. There are over 20 million people around the globe who practice judo, according to the IJF.
After Andor’s meeting and book presentation at the IJF Headquarters, he was surprised to receive a call from the Concierge of his hotel, announcing that president. Marius Vizer was there and wished to speak with him. The president had come around to the hotel to ask Andor and Jae to remain in Budapest so that they could attend the IJF Gala for the opening of the 2023 Judo World Masters. For the next two weeks, the couple continued to stay at their hotel as guests of the IJF where they were given the red carpet treatment during their extended stay.
Then came the evening of the Gala on August 4th, at the Gundel Restaurant. Unknown to Andor the extended “interview” at the IJF several weeks earlier, and the information he gave were used for his introduction at the Gala, as he was presented the honor of being inducted into the “International Judo Federation Hall of Fame”, by IJF President Marius Vizer.
Dr. Andor Jobb is now one of only 48 other individuals in the world to have this honor. Dr. Jobb’s acceptance speech was short, but he gave special thanks to his wife, Jae, for her love and support and asked all those present to involve the young in judo, lest Dr. Kano ‘turn in his grave’.
Judo is the second most widely practiced sport in the world, second only to soccer. Here is a quote from Dr. Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, and the first to be inducted into the International Judo Hall of Fame.
“People from various sectors have asked me about the wisdom and the possibility of judo being introduced …into the Olympic Games. If this is the desire of other member countries, I have no objections. On one hand, judo is not just a sport or game. I consider this a principle of life, art, and science . . . And all things related to it must be directed towards its ultimate goal, the ‘benefit of humanity’”.