John “Jack” Hearn, known to generations of students in Cramlington simply as Mr. Hearn and nicknamed Judo Jack, has died at 103.
His judo began by accident. Appendix surgery ended his cycling, and in 1951 he found judo, taking to it “like a duck to water”.
In 1954 he and his brother Bob opened their own club, the start of a teaching career that ran more than seventy years.
He coached generations of Northumberland families and liked to joke that former six-year-old students were now bringing their grandchildren.
Sources state that Guinness World Records named him the world’s oldest judo instructor in 2020.
He wore the title lightly:
I never thought for one moment that when I got to this age I’d be doing anything.
I thought, you know, I would have been sitting in a wheelchair, but here I am – and I hope they continue because I’ve got a lot of things to do yet.
By 100 he had passed physical demonstrations to younger instructors, telling The Chronicle in 2023 that his legs no longer allowed him to throw.
He stayed on as the club’s authority:
If any clubs want me to go there to give lectures or examinations, that’s what I do now.
His judo ran alongside his military service.
Hearn was a sergeant in the Northumberland Fusiliers in the Second World War, deployed to Africa and Italy, including the fighting at Monte Cassino.
In May 2024 he was the sole veteran representative at the battle’s 80th anniversary commemoration, alongside the Duchess of Edinburgh.
This year, at 102, he received the British Empire Medal for his service to judo and the Cramlington community.
He earned his ninth Dan in 2010 and spent years preparing to attempt the tenth, reached by only a handful of practitioners worldwide.
Asked what a life on the mat had taught him, he pointed beyond judo:
Make sure that every moment that you’re here, you’re doing something which is useful to yourself and to your fellow man, whatever age you are.
Get off your boat and get out and do something.
He said judo kept him content to the end:
I like my life, it’s a happy life, my mind is still full of judo. I will stop judo only when they put the last nail in the box.
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