My Tribute to Gary Claxton

Not to sound John Wayne about it, but you learn a lot about a guy when you bleed and sweat together as you try to beat the shit out of each other. When I moved out to Austin in July of 2006 one of the first things I looked for was a good jiu jitsu school. I had dabbled for a long time in it while I lived in LA but I made a deal with myself when I moved out here that I was going to fully dedicate myself to the art for the rest of my life.

Once I found William Vandry’s school and started training there I started hearing rumblings about this guy named Gary Claxton. Tough skilled men simply nodded their head as they all had the same tale of a 145-pound whirlwind of destruction. I was around the school quite a bit and never saw Gary as he had sustained a pretty serious neck injury and had just had surgery for it to fuse two disks together.

I also had some injuries but by October was training almost every day when I finally caught sight of the man. Frankly he’s the farthest thing you would ever think about when the word “fighter” is thrown out there. He’s slight framed, late 40’s and has a relaxed rockabilly look to him which makes sense as he’s also an awesome musician who plays at The Continental Club amongst other places.

I really didn’t get to train with Gary much at that point as he soon found out his vertebrae had not fused properly and he had to have surgery again.

I remember the day when he came in to class to tell everyone. His hair was slicked back and I’m sure he had a gig to play that night, but his face was solemn. Six months may not seem like a lot in the course of a lifetime but to someone who wants to be on the mats more than anything, it’s an eternity.

While Gary didn’t look happy, I noticed something: there was not an ounce of self-pity on his face. He took the whole thing like a man. As much as people may say they don’t make them that way anymore, it’s important to remember that they were made and some of them are still out there. Gary is one of them.

This time the surgery was a success and the months went by and Gary was back on the mats again. As with the last time, it was only a matter of weeks before he was terrorizing everyone. It’s not often that you meet someone with that fast of a pace who also backs it up with precision. Many have one or the other but I’ve only met a handful that have both.

As time went on Gary and I trained together more and more. It became an unspoken rule that we’d drill together and spar every time we both were in class. There were many times that I’d try to keep up with him but tornadoes are hard to chase. We’d exchange techniques and talk about new ideas we were working on all the time. He always impressed me with his open mindedness and constant pursuit of more knowledge. He still had the same wide-eyed wonder that many mistakenly lose thinking that they’ve “got it” or “understand” jiu jitsu. That is a lifetime pursuit that will never be fully realized.

He’d been training pretty consistently over the last few months so when the seminar came around today, I had a feeling it might finally be his day. There was something in the air that just made me so happy to be alive, to be around my friends and to have the opportunity to be training.

Will, my instructor, likes to have some of the assistant instructors sneak up behind people and slap them with belts. Usually he has a code word or phrase that they’re to listen for, then “Whack!” the person gets hit with their new belt.

Today Will started talking about fortitude and I felt a lump in my throat. I wanted it to be Gary so badly and when I looked up, I saw Jeremy, an assistant instructor behind Gary I had to look away because tears were in my eyes.

This can be a frustrating, mind boggling sport even without injuries.

This man in his late 40’s had been out almost two years with two major surgeries but there he was wearing the belt that he deserved. Gary gave a typically modest speech about not feeling ready for the belt but doing whatever he could to honor it.

I had to keep looking away because the tears were still in my eyes.

Some days everything is right in the world. Good people get what they deserve if they stick around long enough. Gary’s one of those people and I’m a better man for knowing him.