RIO DE JANEIRO — When his dreams of being the next Adrian Peterson faded because he his snapped his leg, 10-year-old Colton Brown moped around for two years, playing video games, gaining weight, and lamenting sports.
His father Jeff saw an opportunity to revive his son’s desire to compete and also take up the dad’s passion. So he introduced his son to judo. Living in New Jersey, where basketball and football were the sports passions for most youngsters, Colton despised his father’s orders to learn a difficult sport.
“I pretty much cried every day,’’ said Brown, one of three males on the United States Olympic judo team. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to go to practice. I don’t want to work hard. In 2004, I was 12 and that’s when I fell in love with the sport and it became a lot easier.’’
At 6 feet and a chiseled 198 pounds, Brown looks like he could have been a bruising running back, but he decided to pursue a sport that gets little fanfare in the United States. It’s judo, not Kung Fu, karate, or taekwondo. It’s a physical, grueling sport that requires strength and endurance.
For the past 12 years, Brown has been obsessed, competing in clubs in New Jersey and then accepting a partial scholarship to San Jose State. While his buddies were scoring touchdowns on Friday nights or dazzling the hardcourts in basketball, Brown was taking down opponents in near anonymity, and his friends laughed.
Brown’s journey has taken him to Rio, where he begins his quest for gold in the 90-kilogram class Wednesday, with his opening match against Iszlam Monier Suliman of Sudan at Carioca Arena 2. Brown is the youngest on the US team and the lone African-American.
He is vying for gold while the buddies who used to chide him sit at home and watch. Brown’s cauliflower left ear is a reflection of his struggles.
“I guess you could say I hung out with the popular crowd and I remember my senior year in high school and everyone was talking about their football scholarships, ‘I’m going to Rutgers for football or I’m going to USC for football. What are you doing? Oh I am going to San Jose State on a partial judo scholarship,’ ’’ he said.
“Even all the people who had known I had been doing judo for so long asked me, ‘Why do you keep doing this? I thought you were going to stop. I thought this was a local thing. You have to go to college now and be serious.’ But I had the Olympic dream.
“So when this finally happened, and all of those people now are finally like ‘We support you so much,’ and I appreciate it but they didn’t realize how big judo was until I guess you can say I put it on the map [for them].’’
The US judo team fully realizes its sport is not popular at home. Gold medalist Kayla Harrison from Danvers, Mass., could probably walk through the Burlington Mall without being recognized. In Brazil, however, it’s different. Judo is a celebrated sport. What’s more, Brazil’s lone gold came in judo, from Rafaela Silva.
So the competitors relish playing on the road and in these hostile environments. Brown and his teammates are hoping their Olympic experience can bring more popularity to judo in the United States. Seeking appreciation at home has been a struggle.
“As Americans, we only care if you won a gold medal, silver medal, or bronze medal and you’re on the podium,’’ said three-time Olympian Travis Stevens, who took the silver medal Tuesday at 81 kilograms. “So as long as we’re doing that, people at home will support us, which is what we’ve all done.
“It’s our goal by winning medals at the Olympics, that we raise the popularity of the sport in our hometown, show up to do local clinics to inspire the youth to stick with it. And show them like Colton said, he finally realized he could take something that was very unpopular and turned him into an inspiration.’’
Brown looks forward to the atmosphere Wednesday, when he begins his mission for gold. Olympic judo tournaments occur in one day, so like Daniel Caruso in “The Karate Kid,’’ Brown will continue to fight as long as he wins.
His father has never seen his son compete internationally, and he will be in the audience, along with Brown’s 96-year-old college coach Yosh Uchida, who convinced his pupil not to quit school. Brown trained for stretches in Danvers with coach Jimmy Pedro, competed in international matches, and took 16 units at San Jose State.
So yes, he’s ready for his opportunity.
“Just thinking about it gets me pumped but just walking out there knowing my family is somewhere up there watching, those are sacrifices that not a lot people are willing to make,’’ he said. “And I think it will make me a better person. I’m 24 years old, I’m the youngest person on this team. I just became a full-time athlete a year ago.
“I hope to inspire younger kids. In Boston, they come and train with us. So I hope that what we’re doing is inspiring to them. I hope they hear about my story because I’m so grateful I didn’t play football. Judo is more of a way of life.’’
Gary Washburn can be reached at gwashburn@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GwashburnGlobe.
