Choque: The Untold Story of Jiu-Jitsu in Brazil 1856-1949 (Volume 1) (51 page)

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Chapter 21 Notes

Chapter 22

1942-1945

On
January 19, 1942, it was reported in Brazil that Japan, Germany, and Italy had signed an agreement to cooperate in defeating their common enemies [
inimigos comuns
]. Their common enemies were England, the United States and various countries of South and Central America, including Brazil.
1

That did not dissuade Brazilians from going to the beach. The same day
Japan, Germany, and Italy declared their intention to destroy Brazil, George Gracie was on his way with a friend to praia balnearia do Tramandai on the coast off Porto Alegre.

George
was unable to enjoy his day at the beach because his car overturned on route. He was seriously injured [
gravemente ferido…seriamente ferido
] and immediately taken to the hospital.
2

Apparently George was not that seriously injured because nine days later, Thursday January 29, he was planning to climb into the ring with a fighter named Stack in Porto Alegre.
3
“Stack” was probably Luiz Stock, one of the popular catchers appearing at Estadio America in Porto Alegre at the time, along with Constant Le Marim, Evaldo Fries (aka Tarzan Gaucho), Adagilso Morais, Dante Carvalho (Oswaldo Gracie’s former student), Otilo Corréa, Herrera, Armando Morais, Mascara Listada, and the national champion Euclides “Tatú” Hatem.
4
It is unknown whether that fight took place. George may not have recovered as adequately as he had anticipated. It is equally possible that negotiations did not go smoothly.

In the Summer of 1942, George fought “Tatú” at Estadio
America in Porto Alegre. Tatú submitted George with a “double Nelson” in the third round, leaving George unconscious on the canvas [
Tatú, demonstrando estar na mais perfeita forma aplicando um “double Nelson” em Gracie, deixou-o desacordado sobre a lona
]. George thereby lost his title as “undefeated” in Porto Alegre.
5

Around that same time George fought Adalgido Moraes “Moirasinho” in a return match. It is uncertain precisely when these matches took place but according to
Esportes Illustrado
the second Moirasinho fight was in the week preceding June 11, 1942, and the other two fights must have been not long before that.

Swindler

Helio Gracie had not fought since 1937. His financial situation was precarious.
6
In 1943 he was ready to re-enter the ring. In March he went to Porto Alegre in search of opponents.
7
Apparently he did not find anyone willing to fight him, or to pay what he thought he was worth.

Also in
Porto Alegre, George Gracie was seeking opponents from among local fighters.
8
He had better luck than Helio. The former Jewish jiu-jitsu champion in Berlin, Willy Steinhardt, agreed to confront George. The fight was set for Friday April 16 at Ring Palacio in Porto Alegre, as part of a program that included catch and boxing.
9

On
Saturday May 22, 1943 Helio Gracie took another driving test [
exame de motoristas
]. He passed again.
10

The promoter Eurico Rocha filed a criminal complaint [
queixa-crime
] against his old student [
seu antigo pupilo
] George Gracie. In an interview, George had called him an “
embusteiro
” [swindler]. George was ordered to appear in court on October 5. Rocha was George’s “manager” in Porto Alegre.
11

Fake Jiu-Jitsu

Manoel Azevedo Maia had been a student of the Gracie Academy for five years during the late 1930’s. He had trained with Helio many times, and was one of the two academy representatives (the other was Paulo Cunha) who attended, with Helio, the judo demonstration of Suniyuki Kotani and Chugo Sato, on Monday July 31, 1939 at the Fluminense Football Club.
12

Maia had followed his own path. He taught jiu-jitsu at the Tijuca Tenis Club and in the Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais. His students included Artur Jorge (George) and Murilo Reis. Neither was well-known for anything other than being Maia’s students.

Helio attacked Maia verbally, alleging that he was “contrary to the interests of real jiu-jitsu”.
13
He did not explain what Maia did that he objected to.

Somewhere along the line, Maia didn’t know where, when
, or why, Helio became convinced that his jiu-jitsu was the only jiu-jitsu.

Maia contended that Helio’s ring results against Takeo Yano and others (particularly Yassuiti Ono) proved that Helio’s way wasn’t the only way. Maia acknowledged a debt to Carlos but he owed nothing to Helio, he said. Helio was just a friend who had become an “inveterate egoist and dangerous adversary”
. But he wasn’t intimidated, Maia said. He was ready to fight anyone, including Helio Gracie.

Helio
talked about “
disciplina
” [discipline] and “
moralização
[
morality
]”. But Helio didn’t know the meaning of the words, Maia said. Helio even went so far as to disrespect his own brother Carlos, calling him a “fake jiu-jitsu teacher” [“
falso professor do jiu-jitsu
”]. But Helio was off-base, Maia corrected, because it was Carlos who taught both himself and Helio.

At issue was the matter of fighting. Helio believed that a good teacher needed to be a good fighter.

Maia disagreed. It is not necessary to be a good fighter in order to be a good teacher, and conversely, being a good fighter does not make one a good teacher, he argued. He had previously mentioned Carlos, who was good teacher but had never won a fight. Helio was a good fighter, Maia admitted, but with his public rudeness and disrespect, he had shown that he lacked the qualities of a good teacher.
14

Helio responded by offering to fight with his arms tied. Maia said he would fight Helio but only with his arms free, not tied [
“
não aceitarei de braços amarrados, quero os dois soltos
”], so that Helio could not make excuses after he lost. The fight could happen, he said, soon after his rematch with Manoel Rocha.
15

The two met face-to-face, coincidentally in the presence of representatives of the press.
16
Helio subjected Maia to insults that were “more painful than an armlock”. Helio clarified some of the issues that he had with Maia. He believed that Maia had participated in “
marmeladas
“ [faked fights]. He also objected that Maia did not have permission from Carlos Gracie to teach jiu-jitsu. He did not explain why Maia needed permission. The Gracie brothers did not receive permission from anyone to teach jiu-jitsu.

Maia was insulted by Helio’s offer to fight without his arms (not surprisingly, as that was Helio’s intention). But he listened calmly while Helio acted out the role of street thug. Helio
enacted his vision of what a jiu-jitsu man should be. Maia had an alternative vision. Maia had lined up with George Gracie and Takeo Yano. Professional fighting was a job. Rewards came from giving the fans what they wanted and what they wanted was action and spectacular theatrical violence. Profits were maximized by holding down costs in the form of pain, trauma, and medical care. It all added up to pro wrestling. Helio was virtually alone with his image of jiu-jitsu as an efficient form of genuine street-fighting. Ironically, when Helio did engage in genuine street fighting, he didn’t use jiu-jitsu, as J
oã
o Baldi had earlier pointed out. He did what untrained thugs would naturally do, attack by surprise, with backup and weapons. His moral position was shaky at best.

Helio had been retired for six years. Whether he was hoping to create interest in a come-back is unknown. If so, it apparently did not succeed. Times had changed. Helio was one of those who were slow to recognize it. Eventually what was old would become new again, but in the meantime, Helio was out in the cold. Fans had shifted their affections to catch and luta livre. They also had a world war to think about.
Brazil was not in immediate danger but the quality of Brazil’s contribution to the cause would have major consequences for Brazil’s relations with the allies in the post-war world.

The
Helio Gracie versus Azevedo Maia fight happened, or rather something resembling a fight, but not until much later, and under controversial circumstances.

War

The situation in Europe was developing in an alarming, but not totally unexpected, fashion. As early as 1936 the Brazilian government assumed that if a world war broke out, Brazil would have to take sides….”which could not be other than the United States of America”.
17

Brazil
broke relations with Germany in January 1942, and officially declared war in August, 1942.
18
Brazil’s initial participation was primarily logistic, but it was assumed in Brazil that a symbolic “blood sacrifice” would be required in order to reap benefits from the conflict. That meant that Brazilian soldiers would have to be ready to serve in Europe.

The government began preparing the Brazilian people psychologically after Minister of War [
ministro da guerra
] and future president (1946-1951) Eurico Gaspar Dutra’s visit to America in August 1943. Although Brazilians were already eager to retaliate in some way against Germany for the submarine attacks off the coast, the formation of an “expeditionary force” posed some political problems (discussed in McCann 1995). Dutra clarified what Brazil would be expected to do, and why.
19
Brazil had large numbers of immigrants from Germany, Italy, and Japan, and their loyalties were matters of uncertainty.
20
The concerns were not imaginary, especially in the case of the Japanese, many of whom fanatically believed that Brazil would become theirs after Japan defeated America, England, China, and Russia. Testifying to their level of fanaticism, they continued to believe it even after Japan surrendered.

Unhappy Times

Even a world at war could not keep George Gracie from issuing challenges. In Porto Alegre, he challenged the Lithuanian Stephano Zickek, better known as “Gigante Memel” (or simply “Memel”) to a jiu-jitsu or catch match. George was so confident that he was willing to fight not only “winner-take-all”, but even for no money at all, apparently just for the sheer pleasure of spanking a big man. George weighed 75 kilos. Memel weighed 120 kilos.
21
It is unknown if the fight took place or if so with what result. But Memel had no fear of jiu-jitsu. He resurfaced after the war, fighting Takeo Yano at least three times.

December was not a happy month for the Gracie family or for jiu-jitsu. On
Wednesday, December 29, 1943, after a two month illness, Oswaldo Gracie died in Bello Horizonte. He left a wife and young son, Iros Gracie.
22

Legal Conflict

Helio was involved in a legal case in 1944, neither for the first nor the last time. It was unusual in that he was not guilty. The well-known sportsman, jiu-jitsu fighter, historian, professor of physical education, and civil servant Alberto Latorre de Faria (aka Al Faria) had charged Helio with injuring him economically.

Reports were not clear on exactly what had happened. In any event, Helio was absolved, and Latorre de Faria was required to pay the court costs.
23
In addition to his academic work, Latorre de Faria was immersed in the fight world. He studied boxing with Eneas Campelo and jiu-jitsu with either Jose Barbosa or Geo Omori, or both.
24
He refereed and promoted catch and vale tudo fights. He was the director of the Federação Metropolitana de Pugilismo in 1946 and was regarded as having a deep knowledge of the secrets of the sports of attack and defense [
profundo conhecedor dos segredos dos esportes de ataque e defesa
].
25

He and Helio must have patched up their differences. Latorre de Faria was the promoter and referee of the Helio Gracie versus Waldemar Santana fight in 1955.
26

On Saturday November 11, 1944, Takeo Yano and his students presented a demonstration of luta livre and jiu-jitsu at a six-day festival of sports to celebrate the 45
th
anniversary of the Instituto Proffisional 15 de Novembro.
27
Jiu-jitsu had vanished as a public form of spectator entertainment, but clearly, it was alive as an amateur sport and recreational activity.

1945

The war in Europe was near the end. Germany had gambled and lost. Italy bailed out before it was too late (but not without great losses). Japan was barely hanging on, hoping vainly for better surrender terms.

Brazil
had sent approximately 25,000 men to Italy as its contribution in “blood”. Professional fighters were probably not among them. Most were too old. Helio Gracie was past his prime but retained his competitive spirit. In March the horse riding season [
temporada hipica
] opened. Competitions [
provas
] were held Saturday March 3 and Sunday March 4 at the Petropolis Country Club’s headquarters in Nogueira. Helio Gracie, representing the country club, took first place in his event on Saturday.
28