Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (14 page)

Carlos did not hesitate to toot his own horn. He had never lost a fight, he told the writer, even when the opponent was a skilled capoeira [
o sr. Carlos Gracie disse-nos ainda que tem vencido todas as lutas em que se empenhou, mesmo quando o seus adversaries eram adextrados capoeiras
]. No one could survive even two minutes against him, he said [
Nunca ninguem lhe resistia mais de dois minutos
].
Carlos was well-schooled in jiu-jitsu and unbeatable, in his own opinion
[
practicamente, um bom conhecedor do jiu-jitsu e invencivel
].
25

By the time the article appeared, Carlos was teaching the “
esporte nipponico
” to the civil police of São Paulo.
26

He was also planning a “demonstration” [
demonstração
] of “jiu-jitsu” at Clube Athletico Paulistano on April 28. The exhibition was scheduled to begin at 10:00 am. Carlos invited the press to attend. To motivate them to show up and cover the program, he needed bait, someone with star power, a known name. Géo Omori fit the bill perfectly. Carlos and his father, according to Omori, induced him to participate in the demonstration by flattering him and playing on his sympathies.
27

If Carlos wanted to attract attention to his demonstration and make his name known, without getting hurt in a real fight, or risk losing in a genuine match, this was the way to do it. Admission was free, and Carlos emphasized that Omori agreed to take part without remuneration or compensation. Far from having any interest in making money, Carlos’ intentions were purely philanthropic. He was providing the exhibition for the benefit of the authorities, the press, sports enthusiasts, and to the people of
São Paulo in general.

How legitimate this match was is an open question. Omori later said explicitly and in no uncertain terms that at the time of the exhibition Carlos knew nothing about jiu-jitsu. It was at the request of Gastão Gracie, Carlos father, that he (Omori) agreed not expose the “boy’s limitations”.
28

However, Carlos seemed to want to create the impression that it was a legitimate fight rather than an exhibition or demonstration. He described it as a “
lucta,
” and called what he would be doing with Omori “measuring forces” [
medir forças
] a synonym for “fight” (in the athletic contest sense), and said that it was not possible to predict who would “win”.
29

Carlos also made a point of describing Omori as having the most perfect knowledge and proficiency of the sport of jiu-jitsu [
perfeito conhecedor da technical e segredos de ‘jiu-jitsu’ para uma lucta
] thereby making himself look better no matter how the demonstration turned out.
30

Nothing that Carlos said or did was unusual from a marketing point of view. It doesn’t tell us much about his jiu-jitsu background, knowledge or skills, but does suggest that he already had a good sense for what was needed to make jiu-jitsu into a paying proposition.

Omori did not let any grass grow under his feet. The following Thursday he was in the ring again, at Circo Pinheiro on rua Theodoro Sampaio at the corner of rua Christiano Vianna. His opponent was Eduardo, (the champion of the bairro Jardim America. Two preliminary matches were Eukin versus Del-o, and Gotto versus Dudú.
31

This was Omori’s last fight in 1929 for which documentation is available. But Omori was not going to fade away. When 1930 came around Omori was there. By his side, or tagging along, depending on one’s perspective, was Carlos Gracie.

According to his foremost biographer,
32
Carlos Gracie had a vivid imagination. He put his story-telling talents to profitable use throughout his long life, promoting fights, disseminating jiu-jitsu, bilking fans and friends, seducing young girls, and trying to stay out of jail. He sometimes had difficulties distinguishing between his stories and reality. Or perhaps, like Orson Welles (the director-writer-actor of
Citizen Kane
fame), he simply felt that when reality is not interesting enough, a good entertainer has an obligation to his audience to add whatever elements are needed to goose it up.

In 1929, Carlos said that he learned jiu-jitsu from Conde Koma about ten years before in Pará (i.e., in the city of
Belém in the state of Pará). According to Carlos, “Conde Koma had come with his ‘troupe’ consisting of Sateki, Okura, Shimiti, and Laku…After some demonstrations he [Koma] organized a gym, and I was one of the first students to sign up” [“
Depois de algumas demonstrações, organizou um gymnasio e eu fui um dos primeiros alumnos inscriptos
”].

With effort, Carlos was able to distinguish himself, and motivated by his interest in physical training, he decided to dedicate himself to spreading jiu-jitsu throughout Brazil.
33

Carlos also said that he had been teaching a few students in
Rio when he received an invitation to instruct and prepare some official agencies in Minas [
Guarda Civil
,
Inspectora de Vehiculos
, and
Corpo de Agente de Segurança de Minas
]. He was contacted by Dr. Menelich de Carvalho, the General Director of the Inspector of Vehicles and the Civil Guard. Carlos said that he taught approximately 200 men.
34

Carlos may have taken some lessons from Conde Koma, but it is certain that he exaggerated. Conde Koma was not in Belém for the entire three year period that Carlos claimed he was Koma’s prize pupil.
35

The truth may be closer to the Rorion and Helio Gracie versions. In his 1989
Playboy
interview, Rorion said that Carlos learned a few basic moves from a traveling master (who might have been Conde Koma). In 1994, Helio confirmed that, saying that Carlos only knew a few basic, power dependent moves.
36

Neither Rorion nor Helio were unbiased. Moreover, Rorion, having been born in 1951, couldn’t have had any first hand-knowledge of his uncle’s early life or jiu-jitsu education and could only have been reporting what his father or another uncle might have said. Helio’s version was based on his recollection of events more than 60 years in the past and his memory was not
photographic.

Carlos might have learned from Koma’s own students. According to Carlos’ daughter and biographer Reila Gracie,
37
Carlos practiced jiu-jitsu with one of Conde Koma’s students named Jacyntho Ferro in Belém. Ferro, at the time of his death in 1929, was said to be Koma’s best student. Unfortunately, and coincidentally, he died at almost the exact moment that Carlos Gracie showed up in São Paulo.

Jacyntho Ferro was a well-known athlete.
38
In Belém His specialties were competitive walking, bicycle racing, and weight-lifting. At the time of his death, a few days before January 8, 1929. Ferro was regarded as the greatest athlete and strongest man in the state of Pará, as well as Conde Koma’s best student [
Ultimamente, dedicava-se ao ‘jiu-jitsu’, de que era o maior discipulo do conde Koma
]. Carlos may have learned from Jacyntho Ferro, but probably not much. Strangely, he never mentioned Ferro in any of his voluminous pronouncements to the press throughout his involvement in the labyrinth of professional fighting. Ferro’s name was famous enough to trade on. But it was Ferro, not Carlos Gracie, who was acknowledged as Conde Koma’s prize pupil. It wouldn’t have seemed as impressive saying that he had acquired his mastery of the secrets of the Japanese game from a Brazilian bicyclist.

A more plausible source of Carlos’s jiu-jitsu knowledge (whatever it might have been) was Donato Pires dos Reis.
39
Donato was also from Belém, and had studied with Conde Koma. He was said to be the only Brazilian to possess a diploma issued by Conde Koma authorizing him to teach jiu-jitsu. Contemporary observers believed that Donato was Carlos’ and George’s jiu-jitsu teacher. Donato was the one who introduced Carlos to his first jiu-jitsu teaching job in Minas. Donato was the one who established what later became the Gracie Academy on rua Marques de Abrantes, 106.

Jiu-jitsu instructional books, such as those by Irving Hancock, were available in
Brazil from as early as 1906 and probably before (see chapter 2). If Carlos learned from such books, he wasn’t the only one. After all, the books were written for people to learn from. Certainly, learning directly from the source, Conde Koma, would have been preferable from a marketing point of view. Carlos may have had some exposure to or contact with Conde Koma, but the available evidence suggests that it was limited at best.

Retirement

Conde Koma’s competition days were mostly over. He did not retire completely. In 1922 he competed in and won a tournament in Havana, Cuba. He returned to Belém on Wednesday June 7, 1922. He was described as a “professor de ginastica” which in Brazil at the time could mean any form of physical training, including judo or jiu-jitsu.
40

By 1929 Conde Koma had been living in Belém for more than 12 years teaching, presumably jiu-jitsu or judo, to police and firemen [
corpo de bombeiros
] at various locations.
41

On
August 15, 1929 it was reported that Conde Koma would go to Rio August 20 on the Itaquice to meet the first group of 200 Japanese immigrant families arriving in Rio on September 7 on the “Montevideo Maru”. The immigrants were recruited to augment the workforce at Companha Nipponica de Plantação do Brasil, in Rio Acará.
42

At this point, the story moves roughly 360 kilometers to the east. Or rather back to where it started,
Rio de Janeiro.

.
Chapter 9 Notes

Chapter 10

1930

Geo Omori and Carlos Gracie’s second “encounter” took place in 1930. According to one news item, Carlos Gracie was, like Geo Omori, undefeated in jiu-jitsu matches. In his career as a fighter, no one had ever subjugated him.
1

The report played a bit loose with the truth. Omori hadn’t been beaten in jiu-jitsu, but he had lost in luta livre. It was also literally true that Carlos was undefeated. He managed a draw in his one and only only previous public match, the 1929 exhibition with Geo Omori.

Carlos was described as having a perfect knowledge of jiu-jitsu, which he had studied for three years. He was the only Brazilian who could boast those qualifications, according to the report.
2
The report was incorrect in two ways.

It was customary at the time for information about a fighter to be supplied by people who had a financial interest in his public appearances, which included promoters, managers, the fighter himself, and to some degree, the writer. A colossal undefeated champion was easier to write about than an average fighter who lost as well as won fights, and the public was more interested in reading about the former than the later. Information was hardly distinct from marketing. Carlos was his own manager-promoter so it is unlikely that this information came from anyone other than himself. No one was really in a position to verify his claims, assuming that they cared. Carlos was free to say anything he wanted. That was equally true for every other fighter in
Brazil, and it was a liberty that they took full advantage of.
3

The newspaper was not quite convinced about Carlos. “We can’t say anything about his performance, his credentials, his skill, his technique or his manner of fighting”
. Omori had been handicapped by a sprained wrist in the 1929 encounter so was difficult to assess Gracie’s actual “capacity” […
não ficou patente a capacidade de Gracie, visto o nipponico se apresentar com um dos punhos luxado
].
4

Perhaps the new encounter would be more informative. Carlos would have the opportunity to demonstrate his real knowledge of the “sport of the samurais”
. The match was scheduled for five 3-minute rounds with a minute between rounds. It was to be held Sunday January 5, 1930 at Pavilhão Queirolo, on rua Formosa in São Paulo.
5

There would be five preliminary exhibition fights. Alecides faced Attila, and Zacharais confronted Waldemar in luta livre matches. Henkin encountered Arthur in a jiu-jitsu match. The matches were three rounds and a round was 3 minutes with a minute between rounds. Benedicto Peres squared off with Amilcar in a four round jiu-jitsu match. “George” (presumably George Gracie) was pitted against the boxer “Gabriel”
.
6

In the several years since jiu-jitsu had been “in vogue” in
São Paulo, Omori had easily defeated every man who faced him.
7

In view of Omori’s record, many people did not believe that Carlos Gracie
stood much of a chance against Omori [
Debaixo dessa imprensão o publico certamente julgou que o sr. Gracie não fosse adversario sufficiente para o nipponico
]. They were in for a surprise.

The fight took plac
e at Madison Square Paulistano.

Omori initially approached Gracie like a spider stalking a fly. But he did not overwhelmingly dominate Gracie. Contrary to expectations, Gracie put on a fine display of technique [
fez um brilhante demonstração
]. The match was declared to be a draw and Gracie received a long round of applause [
prolongada salva de palmas
] in appreciation for his courageous performance. Carlos had demonstrated that he had mastered jiu-jitsu and was capable of confronting any opponent.
8

The match yielded the attention that Carlos wanted. The Queirolo brothers quickly arranged a “spectacular” of the kind that had never before been seen in
São Paulo: Boxing versus jiu-jitsu [
Será uma peleja jamais observada em S. Paulo
]. Even Geo Omori, despite being willing to fight capoeiras, refused to fight boxers. Omori fought heavyweight boxer Ervin Klausner, repeatedly, but only under luta livre rules. He refused to face Klausner in a boxing versus jiu-jitsu match.

Klausner was a legit
imate, experienced boxer, with a heavyweight’s punch. Moreover, he knew how to grapple, and he knew Omori’s game from prior experience. Omori weighed in the neighborhood of 68 kilos. He was courageous but not reckless.

Carlos Gracie was recruited to fight a boxer. He was featherweight Joannes Toon, who was about the same size as Carlos. In addition, one of Carlos’ students [
alumnos
] challenged any amateur or professional boxer up to a weight of 75 kilos. The student turned out to be his brother George. The fight was planned for Madison Square Paulistano Thursday, January 16, 1930.

The press was not impressed, saying Toon was “a boxer just a little above average” [“
um pugilista pouco acima de mediocre”
] and not a worthy representative of the “
nobre arte
” to face a jiu-jitsu expert of Carlos Gracie’s caliber.
9

Carlos also ardently desired a “
luta desempate
” [tie breaker] with Omori, believing that only the ineptitude of the judge denied him victory over Omori. He challenged Omori again. Omori immediately accepted. His interpretation of what had happened in the ring was radically at variance with Carlos.’ It wasn’t until Carlos began to get on his nerves that he talked about it however (see chapter 12).

Both were confident that they would win [
ira luctar convicto de que vencerá
].
10

Sometime between January 11 and January 15 the program was postponed to January 19. Perhaps Carlos’ training was interrupted by the death of his grandmother, Maria Pinherio Gracie, on Monday January 13.
11

Since Carlos would be fighting Omori, George was tapped to face Toon.
12

Between January 15 and January 19, the program was postponed again and the match-ups changed again.
13

The program was scheduled to take place at Pavilhão de Rua
Formosa. Other matches were Attila versus Alcides; Zacharias versus Arthur, Benedicto Peres versus Mangerona, and Jose Dette versus Jose Gaucho, in jiu-jitsu versus luta livre matches of either three or four 3-minute rounds.
14

The George Gracie versus Toon fight was scheduled for either five 5-minute rounds.
15
Geo Omori versus Carlos Gracie was five 5-minute rounds.

What happened is unclear. It was not
uncommon for events to be cancelled or postponed at the last minute due to scheduling conflicts, rain, or other reasons.
16
Generally there would be an announcement when that occurred. However, if the fight took place but was not reported, or the documents no longer exist or haven’t yet been located, there would invariably be some mention of it in publicity campaigns for subsequent fights. None have been found for this program.
17

In May, Carlos organized an elimination tournament for the children of the best families in
São Paulo [
rapazes das melhores familias Paulistana
]. It was scheduled for May 19 at rua Gabriel dos Santos, 6
3．
The action would begin at 4 p.m. Finalists were João Aguiar, Ludovico Penteado, Oscar de Spuza Pinto, and Octaviano Bueno.
18
This suggests that Carlos had used the fame acquired in his Omori matches to open some sort of academy, mostly likely in space borrowed from a sports club (which is still today where most academies are located in Rio and São Paulo). He was obviously targeting people with money.

If any of the boxers that Carlos invited to test his jiu-jitsu took him up on the offer, none was reported in the news. Paulistas liked to watch such mixed
-styles fights
19
and newspapers liked having content that people wanted to read, so lack of reportage suggests either that there weren’t any or that the jiu-jitsu representative did not prevail, and there is eye-witness testimony of impeccable authority corroborating this supposition.

Some post-UFC 1 sources allege that Carlos had placed ads in newspapers offering prize money [
premios em dinheiro
] to anyone of any size who could beat him [
para os desafiantes que conseguissem derrotá-lo, independentmente de peso, altura, e tamanho
]. Allegedly, one ad read “If you want to get your face punched and smashed, your ass kicked, and your arms broken, contact Carlos Gracie” at the Academia Gracie”.
20
No source is provided for this claim. It may be apocryphal. Jiu-jitsu marketing in Rio and São Paulo during the 1930’s emphasized health and spiritual benefits rather than assault & battery. One wonders how Carlos Gracie’s target client base of the families of rich kids would have reacted to it.

While Carlos was spreading the art of the samurais among the rich kids of
São Paulo’s best families, his kid brother [
caçula
]. Helio was in Rio, swimming and rowing boats in Botafogo. Helio represented Clube de Regatas do Botafogo.
21

On Sunday January 19, Helio competed in a 100 meter breast-stroke [
nado á la brasse
] swimming race, coming in second with a time of 1:60 (first place was Abinad Trajano, with a time of 1:47).
22

On Sunday February 9, Helio was part of a three man swim team competing in the 3 x 100 meter relay. Helio was in second position, swimming breast-stroke. Newton Pereira Reis, was first, swimming back-stroke [
nado de costas
], and Edson Carvalho Serejo was last, swimming free-style.
23

According to his own and other superficially authoritative accounts, Helio was a frail, sickly, clumsy boy.
24
By January 1930, he seemed to be in reasonably good health and with average or better athletic abilities.

He continued his involvement in marine sports. On Sunday April 27, in the
Bay of Botafogo [
enseada de Botafogo
] he was the coxswain [
patrão
] on the boat Mira. His rowers [
remadores
] were Jose de Camargo Simões and Jose Carlos ds Silva.
25
On August 31, he again commanded the Mira. His rowers were Henrique Cordeiro Oest and Emilio Gottschalk.
26

If Helio was involved in jiu-jitsu at this time it escaped the attention of the local newspapers.

Donato Pires dos Reis

In early September 1930
Rio newspapers informed readers about the existence of a new academy of “jiu-jitsu” (almost always written with quotation marks) located at rua Marquez de Abrantes n. 106 in the Flamengo beach area. The first report announced that same evening, September 6, at 9:00, a series of practical demonstrations would be offered at the academy especially for journalists. The director of the academy, Donato Pires dos Reis, invited anyone who wanted to test their style against jiu-jitsu to show up.
27

On Sunday September 7
Diario de Noticias
offered more extensive information, beginning with a headline,“The most admiral method of self-defense-jiu-jitsu, scientific teaching of this sport is provided at ‘Academia de Jiu-Jitsu’”.
28

Donato Pires (dos Reis) was from the state of Pará and learned from Japanese masters [
aprendeu esse sport com
mestres Japonezes
], he said. Conde Koma was not mentioned by name. Donato had served as instructor of police in Bello Horizonte, where he had many fights.

By the second day, the academy already had 12-15 students, according to the September 7 report. The assistant professor and monitors were Carlos and Jorge (George) Gracie.

Donato and the writer discussed the legendary (but true) incident in which the capoeira Cyriaco demolished jiu-jitsu representative Sada Miyako in 1909. The incident was common knowledge and obviously had to be addressed by any aspiring jiu-jitsu teacher.

Donato explained that Cyriaco won 500$ (
milreis
) by beating Miyako, as everyone knew. But what they didn’t know was that Miyako offered Cyricao, not once but repeatedly, double that amount if he could beat him again. Miyako even upped the offer to 10,000$ in pursuit of the capoeira. But Cyriaco never accepted [
nunca mais procurou o japonez
].

Even if Miyako did make such offers (which is un
substantiated), there is no way to know whether he would have fared better the second time. But the fact that Cyriaco didn’t accept the alleged offer implied that he was afraid of the scientific secrets of the Japanese game, which in turn was testimony to the efficicacy of jiu-jitsu. Therefore, Miyako and jiu-jitsu didn’t really lose.

Moving on, Donato then extolled the benefits of jiu-jitsu. After taking a series of lessons in jiu-jitsu, he explained, the student would obtain the following benefits: More agility, sharper reflexes, more acute senses, improved blood circulation and respiration, and a sense of absolute tranquility, as a result of the self-confidence that the techniques of jiu-jitsu would instill
.
29