Ronald Allan Charles
Class of 1965
Hometown: Charleston, SC
Dr. Ronald Allan Charles holds 9th degree Judo black belt rank, placing him in a rarified status extremely few Judo practitioners have achieved. The United States Judo Association twice inducted him into its National Hall of Fame for separate accomplishments, including National Coach of the Year 2012, and honored him with Lifetime Achievement Awards in 2010 and 2020. Charles’ contributions to the Olympic sport and art of Judo are as impressive as his professional achievements, giving a singular and greatly admired uniqueness to this worthy alumnus.
He first learned Judo as a freshman in 1961 through a required physical education short course. As poetry editor of the Shako literary magazine, he co-authored In Our Own Way, a cartoon book about The Citadel, donating all profits to scholarships.
After military service, Charles remained overseas and backpacked for years around the world, earning his black belt in Tokyo at the Kodokan Judo Institute, where he studied for over a year under a direct former student of Judo’s founder, and then propagating Judo in hundreds of clubs in over 40 countries on five continents. The World Judo Museum in Berlin presented him in 2020 with their Medal of Honor. His Judo uniform, uniquely adorned with every certification patch, is now one of their featured exhibits.
Charles also holds 7th degree black belt rank in traditional Jujitsu and co-authored the Jujitsu Manual of the United States Judo Association. He has taught Jujitsu worldwide.
After nearly eight years of continuous international travel, he returned to The Citadel and earned a master’s degree. After receiving a Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina, he earned a post-doctoral master’s from The Citadel. With three Citadel degrees under his belt – and a red belt, at that, Charles has much to offer practitioners of the martial arts.
In the 1990s, he taught Judo and coached the team at The Citadel. For decades Charles ran the USJA’s largest club, the Samurai Judo Association, sharing Judo and Jujitsu instruction without charge. He has utilized his expertise to provide instruction without charge, establish clubs, and invest time and energy teaching martial arts to the military, law enforcers, and the public, in addition to conducting many women's self-defense courses. He continues to teach these martial arts at Joint Base Charleston and at Judo camps and clinics throughout the country.
Charles served six elected terms as president of Coastal Carolina Mensa, the area chapter of the international high-IQ society that has over the years published hundreds of his stories.
A worldwide promoter of Judo and traditional Jujitsu, Dr. Ronald Allan Charles exemplifies the best of a Citadel education.