Posted on February 6, 2009 - by Jim Hughes

Tribute to Helio Gracie

When Grandmaster Helio Gracie passed away last Thursday, I like everyone who loves him, was a little shocked. He was larger than life and it just seemed like he would live forever. His presence in the room was like the sun shinning, mainly because he was always smiling. The last time I saw hm was at Royce’s house just before the Sakuraba rematch in K1 Dynamite. He greeted me with a hug and said “hello my friend.” I sat at the table with him as I took a turn holding his new Great Grandson. The Gracie Family loves babies. You can see it in his eyes: The new life of the baby reflects his own open heart. There was something special about the moment. I knew that, and remembered it. But I did not know why.

I am like most. I have big plans for the future. The Tuesday before Helio passed away, some students and I were talking after jiu jitsu class in West Hartford CT about going to Miami the next time Helio Gracie taught at Pedro’s school. I also planned to make a pilgrimage to Brazil to train with Royce’s brother, Rolker. and to visit Helio. We easily forget that life is fragile and that this moment may be our last on this earth. It is even more fragile for a 95 year older no matter how invincible he seems, or, we want him to be.

The moment was important because it was the last I was able to sit next to a rare and true living Master.

My friend and student Sonny Parlin put together a tribute honoring Helio Gracie. One of the pictures he used is a personal favorite. It is one of me at the Academy way back in the day with Rorion and Helio. Helio and I are both wearing blue belts. The fact that he went back to being a blue belt as a personal protest on the state of affairs with Jiu Jitsu in Brazil was quite impressive. He did not want his “baby” to replicate the mistake of Judo which morphed from the original idea to a sport that emphasizes competition with unrealistic rules. He wanted to preserve the important foundation of realistic self defense for the smaller and weaker person in the face of insurmountable odds. His perserverance is to be admired. That is a lesson in and of itself. Helio was not concerned about winning a popularity contest. He was practical minded and was concerned about his art and his students learning it correctly. Our Grandmaster was the top of the heap and he returned to his roots and put on a blue belt. I remember him telling a story that when he fought a Japanese Judoka he wore a Blue Belt. When asked “what’s up with the belt, he replied “I like the color!” You have to love it. I certainly do.

So the picture, of me standing next to Helio Gracie, both of us wearing a blue belt, is my favorite. Blue belt is also my favorite belt. It is the one i have worn the longest up to this point in my training. Plus, there is so much irony: me knowing almost nothing, and the Grandmaster wearing a blue belt while knowing everything. He was not saying (by his actions) that he was returning to my level. But he was saying, i feel, that he was coming back to where he started when many seemed to be getting lost marching down the wrong path. He was good at setting and example. He was not teaching out of some theoretical construct. He taught with his whole mind and body and in the examples he lived.

At one time Helio Gracie was the glue that held the original Gracie Academy together. He was the primary source of instruction and innovator. He had a generous spirit and took many under his wing and now his baby has grown up and flown to every corner of the world. There are many Gracies. and students of the Gracies. teaching all over the place and there are many factions. Sometimes people forget where they come from. The UFC is a good example of this. They would not exist without the pioneering effort and generosity of Helio Gracie. They mentioned hardly a thing in UFC 94 the Saturday after Helio died. The fighters themselves, many of whom have been directly effected by students of Helio Gracie and the Gracie Family had nothing to say. Their forgetfulness is shameful.

With Gracie Jiu Jitsu now being taught on every continent, is no longer “Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.” It is Earth Jiu Jitsu. It is the great connector of people and cultures. We picked an amazing song for the video tribute. Its “Spaceman” by The Lift, with this in mind. Helio has transcended his body. He has traveled beyond the ordinary world. I feel that from his perspective now, he my be able to guide where we all go with his great baby. It is like my feeling about Rolls Gracie. I never knew him except through how he influenced Royce. But I still have a feeling that he is very present in what is unfolding in the worldwide expansion of Gracie Jiu Jitsu. There has never before been a universal activity that is so deeply meaningful and brings people together the way the practice of Gracie Jiu Jitsu does. So, it is with great reverence that i thank Helio Gracie for sharing his baby with me and with so many people. I hope we all protect and nourish it in a way that he would be proud.

Jim Hughes