Washburn wrestler earns another title
James “Chico” Hernandez of Washburn defeated three-time United States National Combat Ju-Jitsu champion and world champion Chris Renfroe of Holland, Mich., 4-0, to win the 30-and-over master’s division of the 2014 “Sambo Joe”/American Karate Ju-Jitsu Union National Sambo Championships, held last month at Ohio University in Chillicothe, Ohio.
Hernandez won the same tournament in 2013 by defeating 18-year-old Kentucky state champion Brandon Hester.
The 33-time All-American and National AAU Wrestling Hall of Fame member, who turned 60 years old in April, has been wrestling and fighting for 46 years.
”Yeah, 1968 is a long time ago and now it’s 2014 and I am still fighting at a pretty good level as indicated by my last two national outings in beating younger opponents,” Hernandez said.
Renfroe, 42, runs his own martial arts school in Michigan, featuring the styles of Sambo and Krav Maga, and also placed second in March at the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio.
“Beating a quality opponent like him at my age kind of freaks me out,” Hernandez quipped.
Some of Hernandez’s accomplishments include being the first Sambo wrestler ever to be featured on the box of Wheaties Energy Crunch. He said being selected to be on the box of Wheaties is America’s Hall of Fame, with 15 million boxes sold.
Hernandez is just the second Sambo fighter to appear in Sports Illustrated “Faces in the Crowd,” doing so in October 1997, and is the first amateur wrestler to be inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame.
He is also a member of the University of Maine at Presque Isle Athletic Hall of Fame, Illinois Wrestlers Hall of Fame, Latin American World Wide Martial Arts Hall of Fame and Action Martial Arts Magazine Hall of Honors.
Hernandez owns an impressive list of martial arts belt rankings. He is a 10th degree black belt in Sport Sambo from San Juan, Puerto Rico, a ninth degree black belt in wrestling from the Martial Arts Academy of America, a fourth degree black belt in Sambo from the Bulgarian Sports Ministry, a third degree black belt Military Combat Sambo from the U.S. Marine Corps in Quantico, Va., a second degree black belt in Submission Fighting from the Metro Fight Club in Detroit, a second degree black belt Sambo from the American Sambo Academy in Milton, Pa., a first degree black belt Sombo from the British Sombo Federation, a first degree black belt in Hybrid Wrestling from Modesto, Calif. and a former Unarmed Self Defense Instructor for the Maine State Prison and Maine Criminal Justice Academy.
He also serves as the varsity wrestling coach at Caribou High School, having since 2010 helped produce eight state place winners, 24 Eastern Maine medal winners, 22 Penobscot Valley Conference medalists and 38 All-Aroostook selections.
“I’ve tried to lead by example,” Hernandez said. “If a kid sees me doing it, then I feel they will believe,” Hernandez said.
