Helio Gracie:
1997 Man of the Year
Helio Gracie:
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In his native Brazil, Helio Gracie has been a national hero and sports treasure for much of the 20th century. Born the youngest of five sons (the others being Carlos, Osvaldo, Gastao and Jorge) to Gastao and Casalina Gracie on October 1, 1913 in Belem, Para, a state in the Amazon region, Helio grew up in what was known as the Brazilian frontier. As a child, he was prone to fainting spells, and the family physician told his parents not to expose him to any physical exertion. Around the time of Helio’s birth, a Japanese fighter named Esai Maeda arrived in Brazil. Maeda’s career began in wrestling contests in rural Japan. Later he studied judo and jujutsu and became a champion. One day, Maeda decided to take his show on the road. He traveled the world testing his skills against those of other fighters. Eventually, he wound up in Brazil, where he fought so well that he was awarded a tract of land. Maeda, dubbed “Count Koma” because of his landholdings, was involved in bringing Japanese settlers to Brazil. He was assisted by Helio's father, Gastao Gracie. To thank Gastao for his assistance, Maeda offered to teach jujutsu to his oldest son, Carlos. After Carlos learned the art, the Gracie family moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1925 and opened the Academia Gracie de Jiu-Jitsu. Because Helio was weak and small, he was not permitted to participate; he had to settle for merely watching. But as he watched, he learned. He knew that he would never be able to do some of the techniques because they required too much strength. So he started altering the moves in his head, looking to exchange strength for leverage whenever possible. “I didn’t invent the martial arts,” he later said in an interview. “I adapted it to my necessity—what I needed for my weight and lack of strength. I learned jujutsu, but some of the moves required a lot of strength, so I could not use them. I couldn’t get out from some of the positions I learned from my brother because of my lack of strength and weight, so I developed other ways out.” One day, so the story goes, Carlos was late for a jujutsu class he was supposed to teach. So Helio, who was then 16, subbed at the academy. Apparently, the students loved Helio’s teaching methods so much that he decided to continue instructing. After perfecting the Japanese way of doing jujutsu, the Gracie brothers followed in the footsteps of Maeda into the world of challenge matches. Helio soon became a standout and had very little trouble defeating all the local champions. In 1943 Reader's Digest published an article which claimed that a boxer had defeated a jujutsu fighter in a match intended to demonstrate the superiority of one style over another. Helio took offense at the article and approached O Globe, the largest newspaper in South America, to issue a challenge. He said he would make himself available to fight five boxers of any nationality, with or without gloves and all in the same night. He did not receive a single reply. In 1950 boxer Joe Louis arrived in Brazil to find that Helio had sent him a telegram via O Globo. In part, it read: “I have just heard of the possible arrival of Joe Louis, the former heavyweight champion of the world, to our capital. I want to notify you of my disposition to face him in a match of boxing versus jujutsu to prove the superiority of the art that I practice, as well as clarify the issue of doubt raised by the magazine Reader’s Digest.” Much to Helio’s disappointment, Louis never accepted the challenge. Helio’s greatest triumph in the ring may have been a 1951 loss to Masahiko Kimura, a legendary Japanese judo champ who had been undefeated for 16 years. Kimura, a much bigger and stronger man with great technique, told the press that because of the size difference, he would consider Helio the winner if he lasted longer than three minutes. Well, Helio lasted 13 minutes, and he was still fighting when Kimura caught him with an arm lock. Brother Carlos, who was afraid the technique would shatter Helio's limb, threw in the towel. Kimura was so impressed with his opponent that he invited him to teach in Japan. Luckily for Brazil, Helio declined. Over the years, people have asked Helio why he and his family fight in challenge matches. “Because I really believe in the art,” Gracie answers. “How [else] could I prove it was the best art? If I say I can speak English, I need to prove it by entering into a conversation. It’s the same with the art. I believed jujutsu was the best, and if someone doubted that, I was willing to [prove it].” Although widely known for his fighting prowess, Helio was just as revered for his teaching methods. He knew that one-on-one instruction and small classes were most beneficial to students, so that's the way jujutsu was taught. Another twist was that in his classes, the students were the ones doing the choking and the instructor was the one getting choked. Helio devoted years to finding the best order for introducing techniques to his students. His methods became so successful that hundreds of imitators sprang up in Brazil and around the world. When asked about the differences between the Gracie family’s jujutsu and other styles taught in Brazil, Helio replied: “First, there are no other styles of jujutsu in Brazil. The only branch in Brazil is the one that came from me. There are different scales and different levels—people who learned more and teach more efficiently, and bad instructors who didn’t learn from me. There are good teachers and bad teachers, but they all come from Gracie jujutsu.” While the aforementioned accounts· will give readers some idea of why Helio Gracie is Brazil’s first and longest-reigning sports treasure, the following anecdote will help explain why he is also a national hero in that country. In 1946 Helio and his brother were traveling to Rio de Janeiro aboard a steamer. Suddenly someone screamed, “Man overboard!” A boat full of sailors was immediately dispatched to rescue the man. The waves grew bigger as a storm approached, and the small boat had a hard time negotiating the 700 feet that lay between it and the drowning man. When the sailors finally reached the man, they struggled to pull him into the boat. They tried for 20 minutes, but the waves were so big that rescue was impossible. The captain, fearful for the rescue crew’s safety, ordered them back. In essence, he was leaving the man to die. Helio, standing on the deck of the steamer, asked his brother if he wanted to try to save the man, and his brother replied, “I don’t think I can do it.” Helio then stripped to his shorts and plunged into waters he knew were shark-infested. Hoping to avoid the man-eating fish, which he predicted would be driven deeper by the storm’s turbulence, he swam along the surface. On the way out, he passed the rescue crew returning to the ship. Helio ordered them to turn around again and head for the drowning man. From the water, Helio secured a hold on the floundering man, and with the help of the sailors Helio yanked him into the boat, thus saving his life. Brazil presented Helio Gracie with the medal of honor for his bravery. Black Belt presents him with its Man of the Year award for his outstanding contribution to the martial arts. (This profile originally appeared in the 1997 Black Belt Yearbook.) 
Black Belt Hall of FameInductee Directory Gracie Jiu-Jitsu: The Master Text |
