Judo in the United States however, the lecture had little effect on mainstream judo growth. The first American to actually study judo was Prof. Ladd from Yale University, in 1889. He trained at the Kodokan in Japan for about ten years; by 1908 about 13 Americans were training there. In 1919, Prof. John Dewey of Columbia University came to visit Prof. Ladd and Master Kano, many years later he took his knowledge back to Columbia and began the first U.S. college judo program. While some students were training in Japan there was some action in the U.S. Perhaps one of the most important figures in
Judo in Canada Mehmedovic, who competed in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Musician Mark Kasprzyk, who previously went by the stage name 'Kazzer', was an alternate for Canada's 2000 Olympic Judo team. In the video for his best known song as Kazzer, "Pedal to the Metal" (2002), Kasprzyk confronts a bully (played by Sebastian Pawlak, also a judo fighter) and disables him using the Judo throw "ippon seoi nage". He now goes by 'Kaz' and is the front man for the group Redlight King, best known for a song titled "Old Man" (2011) that samples fellow Canadian Neil Young's song by the same