In 1986 I met
Gene LeBell and I was told he was the greatest grappler in the world.
At that time it didn't mean much to me until a judoka friend of mine came
for a visit from Brazil in 1991. I took him to Gene's cabin so he could
experience the ultimate grappler. When we got there, Gene pulled a brand
new white gi from his closet and threw it to me. To my surprise, he wanted
me to grapple. I had never done any kind of fighting in my life before.
At first I declined, but he insisted and said he would burn my house down
if I didn't comply. I gracefully changed from my plain civilian clothes
into the martial arts attire for the very first time in my life. I started
learning the basics, from taking falls to simple judo ground techniques
from my black belt friend who had come to visit me. This friend stayed
for the month of January. He went back to Brazil but I kept going religiously
every Saturday to the cabin, traveling one and a half hours each way,
to train with Gene. I had been bitten by the grappling bug.
Gene said I was good and understood things
well. I figured, being as nice as he is, he would say that with a straight
face to anybody…good or not. It wasn't until October of that year,
ten months later, when visiting Brazil I went into my friend's dojo, the
one who had visited me in January, that I saw Gene's words differently.
In training with this friend who had been training judo since he was very
young, I realized how much I had learned in such little time. He could
not do anything to me on the ground, and I tapped him two or three times.
I started believing in myself and kept training for the next four years.
Gene insisted that I find a place to train judo during the week. I told
him I had no interest in getting my body slammed on the mat by judo throws.
During the last quarter of 1992 Gene set up another one of his pranks and had me call a gentleman by the name of Carlos Machado ®. He said "Tell him you are me and speak Portuguese. Tell him I can speak Portuguese but because Bob Wall was there when I was visiting him, and because he does not know the language and I don't like to show off, I spoke only English in his presence." Very innocently I complied. Carlos was in awe! Not only was Gene one of the greatest grapplers ever, but he also spoke his language - very well, you might say. I called Gene and told him of my feats. Gene almost fell off his chair, he was laughing so hard. He especially liked it because Carlos is "the serious one". So that was it for now.
After a few more weeks, Gene convinced me
to try out this Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu dojo. My good memory saved me from
a catastrophe. I asked Gene: "Isn't this the guy you had me play
a prank on?" And he says, "Yeah! But they are nice." I
said, "Gene, are you crazy? I'm a beginner at this and these guys
are not only more experienced but they are world champions. I don't stand
a chance. There is no way I'll go in there by myself." So he went
with me. We got to the academy and saw Rigan Machado ® teaching a
class. After all the introductions and because the class was half way
through, Rigan asked that I come back the next day to get a full workout.
When I returned the next day by myself, guess who was there teaching a
private student? Carlos Machado ® himself. I walked in and introduced
myself. Carlos seemed pleased to meet me and asked me to roll with his
private student on the mat. After training with the student and then getting
my butt kicked by Carlos, he asked "By the way, when 'Gene LeBell'
called me up and claimed he spoke Portuguese, it was you, right?"
I got up, and walked quickly, with my back towards the door and said:
"Please understand, Gene is a prankster and I didn't mean any harm.
Please, don't hurt me!" He laughed and said "Don't worry, that's
not the first time he's done something like that." I was very relieved
to see that he could take a joke lightly and I immediately signed up to
train. That was February of '93. I have been training with the Machados
® since and in 1997 I started teaching for the Jean Jacques Machado
® Academy in Tarzana."
The persistence and the sweat paid off. In
January of 2000 I went to training as usual. Jean Jacques interrupted
the class - as he normally does when promoting someone - and started his
speech about that person. Clueless, I was looking around trying to figure
out who would be getting his new belt. Then I paid closer attention to
his words and realized there was a good chance he was describing me. Sure
enough, out came a black belt and he called my name and handed it to me.
On June 4th, 2001, Jean Jacques promoted
three long time students to black belt and promoted me to First Degree
Black Belt. Needless to say, I am very proud and honored to be the second
of only six (as of June 2001) Black Belts he has ever promoted in the
United States.