Helio Gracie

This morning Helio Gracie died at age 95. He was the creator of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ).



It's pretty amazing to think that this guy was the founder of a martial art style. Most martial arts are so old that nobody could really identify who started it. He was a 10th degree red belt (which is higher than a black belt).

We had a moment of silence at class tonight in honor of the Grand Master and "bowed out" to a picture of him on the wall. Our instructor Brian told a story about Helio from when he was training with the Gracies. He recalled how all the other instructors, which they called Professors, had their own private offices with a private locker for them to change at, but Helio had his locker in the main locker room with all the students. When they break for lunch, everyone would hang up their gi and their belt on their locker door (to dry out I imagine). So you'd see all these white and blue belts hanging all down the line, but there in the midst of them all was the red belt of the Grand Master. Pretty cool.