News
SMC to Name Wrestling Facility for Coach Judd
Published on January 22, 2026 - 3 p.m.
Room to Grapple is a mini-campaign within the larger Room to Grow campaign for the wrestling facility nearing completion, followed by improvements to the Dale A. Lyons Building choral and instrumental music areas.
Room to Grapple specifically aims at naming the new facility after Southwestern Michigan College’s only wrestling coach from 1968 until 1992, Hall of Famer James J. Judd.
The New Baltimore, Ohio, native, born Dec. 29, 1937, and died Dec. 24, 2021, spent 38 years with the college, continuing to teach physical education until 2006.
Judd was one of three original SMC coaches, along with Ron Gunn, cross country/track, and Jim Tansey, basketball.
In 1990 Judd was named to the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Okla.
Coach Judd, also SMC’s first golf coach, produced 85 academic All-American wrestlers, with more than 150 going on to four-year colleges and universities.
One of Judd’s former wrestlers, Todd Hesson, currently coaches the Roadrunners — a position landed weeks after Coach Judd’s passing.
SMC three-peated the Michigan Community College Athletic Association championship and captured the 2025 Great Lakes District Championship in Illinois in the first three years since the sport’s 2022 revival after a 30-year absence.
Hesson, Great Lakes District Wrestling Coach of the Year, emphasizes academics, just as his mentor did.
In 2024, National Wrestling Coaches Association awards for NJCAA Scholar All-Americans included five Roadrunners, Nathan Andrina, Hector Garcia, Hunter Heath, Colby Klinger and Vinny Patierno.
Last March 8, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Hesson was selected National Wrestling Coaches Association Coach of the Year.
At the Mid-America Center in Council Bluffs, the Roadrunners finished 14th in NJCAA Division I, with sophomores Colby Klinger and Nathan Andrina honored as All-Americans, joining Caeleb Ishmael from 2024, when SMC finished 17th in the country.
The past two seasons, SMC qualified the maximum 10 wrestlers for the national meet.
Hesson, who hopes to have his mat men practicing in the new space by mid-February, wants it named for Coach Judd “because he laid the foundation for everyone — myself included.
“He was a very impactful man, though I don’t know if he realized it because he was just being himself.
“We met at 7 this morning for sprints,” Hesson, 63, said. “I tell our kids all the time, ‘I can’t do what you’re doing, but there was a time I did do that stuff, so I’m not asking you to do anything I haven’t done.’ ”
The former city councilman’s “big influence was off the mat, helping kids out and watching out for them. He was a well-rounded jack-of-all trades with a lot of life skills and a very smart guy who made sure everybody was taken care of to the best he could. It wasn’t just wrestling.
“I’ve got some kids now who started out wrestling and aren’t now, but they’re still on campus, so I encourage them to stop in so I can help them get through things. If you have an opportunity to get an education, somehow, some way, it will pay off, not to mention all the memories.
“Academics is what we’re here for. Those who thought they couldn’t do college realize now that they can.
“Naming it for him seems like the right thing to do, since this room will bring in more wrestlers. He was just a good man all the way around.”
“It’s a great honor, and well-deserved,” said Coach Judd’s son, Todd, who wrestled for the Roadrunners with Hesson and followed his father into a career coaching and teaching physical education. “I thought it was pretty fitting.”
Judd’s not sure how his father would react because “he didn’t like a lot of accolades,” but believes he would be appreciative in his own humble way.
The number of wrestlers grew last fall with creation of a women’s team guided by Ashley Courtney, from a prominent central Kentucky wrestling family.
Courtney wrestled for four years at a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) school, the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg.
Manager of Development and Executive Director of the SMC Foundation board Emily Schrock said, “We are trying to raise $200,000 for naming rights to the wrestling room. There are still alumni out there who resonate with Coach Judd and want to honor what he did for them.
“People I’ve reached out to and spoken to thus far talk about how much he cared about his wrestlers, their well-being and that they were successful in school. I can definitely see those traits in Todd and how he runs his program now. Their passion for their students is a lifeline for them to stay in school and to succeed.”
As they still say on the mats in homage to Judd’s battle cry amid struggles, “Gotta Love It.”
To give, visit givebutter.com/roomtograpple or contact Schrock at eschrock02@swmich.edu.
