Dan Noli

Inducted in 2025

Danny Noli began his athletic voyage at All Saints Catholic School where he was introduced to sports by Billy Lopez, a Pima County Sports Hall of Fame softball coach at Sahuaro High School.
After graduation, Noli attended Tucson High School where he played for Hall of Fame football coach Ollie Mayfield.
His next adventure was the world of Martial Arts. He enrolled at Pima College.
PCC athletic director Larry Toledo and coach Ted Farhat had aspirations of developing competitive sports at Pima. That soon took place in Judo, with Dan the co-captain of the Aztecs team. In 1972, Noli became PCC’s first All-American (with Steve Owen) on the national championship judo team. From 1971-77, Dan competed in more than 120 Judo tournaments. He became a three-time gold medalist in NJCAA sports, an NCAA Division I silver medalist and a two-time member of the USA World University Games team.
He was also a three-time gold medalist at the AAU championships and qualified for the 1976 USA Olympic Trials. In 1980, Dan qualified to participate on the USA Olympic team in Moscow but did not compete because the USA boycotted the ‘80 Olympics.
In 1973, Dan graduated from PCC and enrolled at the University of Arizona where he continued as an active Judo competitor. He graduated in 1977. He began to work in law enforcement in investigations and the probation department. He became an active supervisor in Fugitive-Warrant Apprehension detail.
His work limited his activity in Judo although he did become an assistant Judo coach.