IPTM Instructor Wins Fourth National Master Judo Championship

Joanna Norris, Assistant Director

Department of Media Relations and Events

(904) 620-2102

Greg DiFranza, tactical enforcement coordinator at the Institute of Police Technology and Management (IPTM) at the University of North Florida, recently won his fourth national judo master’s heavyweight title.

DiFranza, a Jacksonville Beach native, won both of his matches in a total of less than 2 minutes to claim the gold medal at the 2010 USA Judo Senior National Championships in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Last summer, he won a gold medal in judo for the grandmaster heavyweight division at the 2009 World Police & Fire Games in Vancouver, British Columbia. He won two matches in under 30 seconds, giving him his third consecutive gold medal win in the bi-annual event. DiFranza, 53, was the only judo player from the USA to win a gold medal, and one of only three USA medalists in the two-day judo event.

He has been an IPTM instructor at UNF for more than 20 years, has actively competed in Kodokan Judo since 1965 and currently holds the instructor ranking of Sandan (third-degree black belt). He has held various divisional, state and Southeastern United States championship titles, including a gold medal in the Florida State Police Olympics in 1982.

DiFranza, who is the head instructor at First Coast Kodokan Judo in Orange Park, retired from competition in 1983 but returned as the Sunshine State Games gold medal champion in 2000 and 2002. He won the USA National Champion in the Master’s 100+ kg division for three consecutive years between 2003 and 2005. In 2005, DiFranza also won the gold medal in the Pan American Judo Championships in the heavyweight division, a silver medal in the open weight division and gold in the team competition (team Florida).

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