A video shown at the memorial featured many of his accomplishments from the stunt and martial arts world, evoking smiles, laughter and tears that had many in the crowd wiping their eyes. I love ya man. To this day you are still teaching and sharing your wealth of knowledge with the next generation! This scene is loosely based on world class Judoka Gene LeBell . After getting his black belt, he went to Japan to train in judo at the Kodokan. Thank you, Mr. LeBell! Here's an attempt to share some of those posts and tweets from the cross . LeBell, who also authored more than 12 books on martial arts that simultaneously chronicled his storied career, is survived by his wife Eleanor, children Monica and David, stepchildren Danny and Stacy, and grandchildren Daniel, Tyler and Nicholas. You truly are a one-off, a living legend. Could James Harden Potentially Return to Houston After the Season? Well deserved my hat is off to you sir!!! The Toughest Man Alive. We cant have blood! Gaffer tape stanched the bleeding, and LeBell managed six more takes. His career bore that out. developed adult skills by 13. Still working on the Pro Wrestling Finishing Holds book techniques to this day! ", "Gene LeBell and Ronda Rousey's golden lineage", "Killer's Impending Parole Scuttled by Extortion Plot", "Los Angeles Stirred by Detective's Mysterious Death", "Judo legend Gene LeBell passes away aged 89 years old", "Gene LeBell, Famed Stuntman and "Godfather of Grappling," Dies at 89", "NWA Hall of Fame Class for 2011 announced", "North American Heavyweight Title (W. Texas)", Seagal vs LeBell resolved Fact, Fiction & Eye-Witness Testimony on the Urban Legend, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gene_LeBell&oldid=1141444745, NWA "Beat the Champ" Television Champions, Articles lacking reliable references from May 2021, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from May 2021, All articles needing additional references, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using embedded infobox templates with the title parameter, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 02:59. [23] LeBell's trainee Ronda Rousey, assured Seagal was the one lying and said: "If [Seagal] says anything bad about Gene to my face, I'd have to make him crap his pants a second time. His notable students include Rousey, WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper, and Chuck Norris, among others. While men like Wagner and later Freddie Blassie and Dick the Destroyer Beyer would headline Eatons wrestling cards, the young LeBellbereft of a father figurestarted at the very bottom, learning the ropes in the hardest away imaginable, twisted into pretzels by grapplers like the aging Evan Strangler Lewis, from whom LeBell asked to learn the Stranglers signature headlock when LeBell was the tender age of 7. The Savage camp claimed they did not know the difference. After earning these titles, LeBell made the transition to professional wrestling because of the promise of better earnings in the sport. Gene LeBell began his martial arts training at the age of 13 and went on to become the Godfather of Grappling and is considered by many to be the father of MMA. Extant fight footage shows a stocky LeBell, probably 60 to 70 pounds heavier than he was when he debuted in judo, cautiously circling and then struggling to throw the much smaller man, who exhibited sound wrestling defense. [9], Encouraged by Ed Parker,[8] LeBell accepted the challenge and travelled to Salt Lake City to meet Beck. Your culture and entertainment cheat-sheet. LeBell's longtime friend Bas Rutten first revealed the news on Facebook. However, no context is provided for the encounterup until the fight, Booths martial arts credentials, unlike LeBells, are completely unknown, and he defeats Lee on the feet rather than with wrestling techniques. Billy Robinson. People called him the Toughest Man Alive. He was a man that no endeavor was too tall for him to accomplish, Josh Barnett said of LeBell. Some of his most famous students were, Ronda Rousey, Sugar Ray Robinson,. If I could get my arms around you I would hug you. Many modern-day MMA fans recognize LeBell as the one who is present in many of Rousey's early games, coaching her on. Best to You Gene !! He was seen in Rousey's corner during matches and celebrated her victories with her. August 10, 2022 1:24pm. Hans Gutknecht has been a photojournalist at the Los Angeles Daily News since 1992. Beck engaged in a great deal of pre-fight trash talk, but it was clear that he had very little knowledge of Japanese martial arts even going as far as confusing traditional judo for karate. Judo Gene LeBell was famous for his catch wrestling technique that later became an influence in both pro wrestling and mixed martial arts. Congratulations Uncle Gene! August 10, 2022 1:24pm. Theres way too much to say to even begin to scratch the surface of the career and life Gene lived, wrote the Stuntmans Association of Motion Pictures in a statement to Variety. Congratulations! Gene, I appreciate the things youve accomplished in life, and acknowledge your generosity to those you have helped to achieve theirs. Well deserved.- Bonnie Happy, Well deserved. Tim Gilbert, This tribute is well deserved. Gene LeBell began his martial arts training at the age of 13 and went on to become the "Godfather of Grappling" and is considered by many to be the . His notable students include Rousey, WWE Hall of Famer Roddy Piper, and Chuck Norris, among others. As a stuntman, Gene has worked on more than 1000 film and television projects during a career that has spanned over 50 years. thank you so much for all the encouragement over all these decades . Beck claimed that a boxer could defeat any martial artist in a straight fight and offered $1000 to anyone who could prove otherwise. With love and affection, Sandy Gimpel, Congrats on your big nite!! The Bahamas Wrestling Association: Black Wrestling and the Birth of a Nation. We are incredibly sad to report that our hero, dear friend and Stunts Unlimited brother passed away yesterday, August 9th, 2022 at the age of 89. He believed in me which made me believe in myself. Voters will soon get a say, As Adderall shortage continues, DEA plans to limit some telemedicine prescriptions, House where JonBenet Ramsey was found dead listed for sale for almost $7M, Columbia University permanently drops SAT, ACT admissions requirement, The Waterbed Doctor: California retailer lays claim to retro bed with nearly 40 years of service, sales, Felonious Florida podcast: Missing teenage girl leads to several cases of child sex trafficking, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Proud to be your friend! You deserve every bit of it! Born in Los Angeles in 1932, LeBell was shipped off to a military. Stuntman Gene LeBell might not have been around since Hollywood's first fist fight, but his skill has transformed the genre. Congratulations, Connie P Conrad Palmisano, Congratulations Uncle Gene for receiving the lifetime award. Please enter a valid email and try again. If you saw Quentin Tarantino's . [21], The popularity of this incident led LeBell to be counted in 1992 as a potential additional member of Robert Wall's controversial "Dirty Dozen," a group of martial artists willing to answer to a public challenge made by Seagal. (James C. Udel, Variety, 2018), Gene started training in judo at a young age, and at the age of 20 in 1954, he won National AAU Heavyweight Judo Championship and the USA Overall Judo Championship title. Gene LeBell (also called "Judo Gene" and "the Godfather of Grappling") went on to perform stunts in hundreds of movies, train martial artists like Chuck . Those were great times !! I made very good money, and it led me into a career in stunt work.. 2005, Learn how and when to remove this template message, contest between Muhammad Ali and Antonio Inoki, Golden Boy Promotions: Liddell vs. Ortiz 3, NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship, George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame, NWA "Beat the Champ" Television Championship, NWA North American Heavyweight Championship, "IBK International Kyokushin Budokai Blak Belts", "Roots of Fight Brings Us the Story of "Judo" Gene LeBell MMA Pioneer and Terrifying Old Man", "Could Gene LeBell beat up Bruce Lee? Gene LeBell, a renowned stuntman who trained Bruce Lee and inspired the likes of Quentin Tarantino, died in his sleep Tuesday morning at his home in Sherman Oaks, California, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Mary Karcz, Hi Gene, Id just like to Congratulate you on your receiving the Taurus Lifetime Achievement Award. Gene LeBell is a legend in the world of MMA and Martial Arts. [20], LeBell is associated with Gokor Chivichyan's Hayastan MMA Academy where he taught grappling classes. After his competitive career, Gene LeBell and his brother Mike would run the National Wrestling Alliance's Los Angeles region between 1968 and 1982. Almost everyone present to honor him wore a Gene LeBell tee-shirt, and his widow Midge sported a sweater covered in patches that LeBell made over the years to give out to fans for souvenirs. When he entered the 1954 AAU National Judo championship as a lightly regarded 160-pound heavyweight, he pinned 1952 Pan American Games gold medalist Johnny Osako in his first match, then went on to win both his weight class as well as the overall tournament. A notable one was the 'Hot Rod' himself, 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper. Love ya, Bax Craig Baxley, Sr. Gene LeBell: Bruce Lee in the UFC, Ronda Rousey, if anybody can beat her, Judo in MMA, Jimmy Kimmel, Congratulations Gene..its about time!!! For a time, he took on a role as "policeman" for the organization, helping to maintain order. (Gene LeBell Biography), Born in Los Angeles in 1932, LeBell was shipped off to a military school at age 6 by his full-time working mom after his father died in a surfing accident. Gene LeBell was promoted to 9th degree in jujitsu and taihojutsu in 2000 by the United States Ju-Jitsu (USJJF) Ju Jitsu Federation. Today we will take a look at just a fraction of it. Other recordings discovered had ties to the presidential campaign of Richard Nixon. Unfortunately, Bruce Lee passed away a few years later in 1973. Congrats to the amazing living legend John Stoneham, Jr. Congratulations Gene, you know I love you, and Im so very very proud of you. LeBell is also a writer and has penned a dozen books on martial arts. In February 2005, the USJJF made him 9th dan in judo. LeBells Rolodex is not just one hall of fame roster, but multiple, as hes played integral roles in the worlds of boxing, judo, wrestling, and Hollywood stunt-work. [10] Also, according to LeBell and other sources, Savage's gloves contained brass knuckles[9][10] and he had greased up his gi with vaseline to make gripping it more difficult. It goes to a great man of strength, integrity and honor. It always put a smile on my face when you would call the SAMP office. David Burton, Congrats Gene LeBell great job well done Grover Gay, Congrats Gene LeBell! Mike Bohn. And in February, 2005 Gene LeBell was promoted to 9th degree black belt in judo by USJJF. For 89 years, few did that work better than Judo Gene LeBell. You have definitely earned it for all your contributions to the industry. In a fifty year career of high falls and fist fights, Gene LeBell has crashed cars, jumped motorcycles, wrestled bears, incited riots and fought some of the deadliest men in the world. Nicknamed "The Godfather of Grappling", he popularized grappling in professional fighting circles, serving as a precursor to modern mixed martial arts. Bruce Lee. LeBell lived long enough to learn submission wrestling from the likes of Ed Strangler Lewis, study judo in postwar Japan, win the first notable mixed martial arts match in 1963 and then referee the much-hyped but disappointing 1976 proto-MMA showdown between boxer Muhammad Ali and wrestler Antonio Inoki, trade fighting tips and blows with a young Bruce Lee on the set of The Green Hornet, allegedly choke out martial-arts action star Steven Seagal on the set of Out for Justice in 1991, and even decline an invitation to the early Ultimate Fighting Championship events when he and 82-year-old jujitsu pioneer Hlio Gracie couldnt settle on a fighting weight. Aloha, Brian Keaulana, Congratulations Gene! In any case, LeBell was back to work in the movies almost immediately, adding to the movie residuals and Screen Actors Guildbacked retirement that sustained him in his later years. I was driving a weenie mobile and Gene was driving a truck and they wanted a near miss, so we did the take and they said we werent close enough we showed em the paint scraped off the sides of the cars and they said, Okay, I guess youre right. I get his patches every year, got em all right here. Congratulations my brother!!! The seeds that Gene LeBell helped plant have grown into the modern landscape of mixed martial arts that we know today. According to a 2014 interview in Black Belt, LeBell had no idea the fight would be as significant as later developments in the sport of MMA have made it. To start academies, and then have a lineage of students that he brought up, not just martial arts but also film., Barnett said of his accomplishments, Its really just incredible to see someone be able to tip the scales of the world with just his own hands like that. Ronnie and Mary Rondell, Congratulations Uncle Gene! In a recent conversation with Bob Calhoun, the coauthor of LeBells autobiography The Godfather of Grappling, the judoka, then 87 years old, said he was surprised that Lee didnt try to counter me, so I think he was more surprised than anything else. In the years that followed, Lee worked with LeBell to incorporate grappling into his films, defeating Sammo Hung with an arm bar in Enter the Dragon and Chuck Norriswho would become another long-time collaborator of LeBellsvia chokehold in Way of the Dragon. By the time he transitioned to judo in the early 1950s, LeBell had already spent untold hours in submission holds and on the receiving end of punches from boxers like the great Sugar Ray Robinson at L.A.s famous Main Street Gym. Gene LeBell was born on October 9, 1932. So may you rest in power, Gene.. Gene LeBell, who died on August 9 at age 89, led a life so expansive that any mere retelling of it would come across like a tall tale, the stuff of Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyanif all of it werent true. He judged UFC 74 (Randy Couture vs. Gabriel Gonzaga) plus he had a highly popular website visited by martial arts and film fans all over the globe. LeBells career wasnt without controversy of its own, thoughnot long after refereeing the Ali-Inoki fight in 1976, he was arrested for his role in the murder of private investigator Robert Duke Hall, whose residence contained hours of phone recordings connected to powerful local figures and even the 1972 presidential campaign of Richard Nixon. Few will live a life as extraordinary as Gene LeBell has. Gene LeBell died in his sleep on August 9 th 22, at age 89, two months to the day shy of his 90 th birthday. Gene LeBell was born on October 09, 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States, is Stunts, Actor, Miscellaneous Crew. It must be said at this stage that . LeBell, who spent much of his later years overseeing the National Wrestling Alliance in Los Angeles, was even charged with murder when private investigator Robert Duke Hall was killed in 1976. Although LeBell would remain undefeated in the sport for eight years, even traveling to Japan in 1955 to further his judo skillsand, following a laundry mishap, adopt the pink gi that became a signature piece of his in-ring lookhis interests were too varied to allow him to focus exclusively on one sport. Well deserved !!! [7] Despite his pedigree, he did not get over immediately with audiences but gradually became known for his martial arts background. After his mother remarried, LeBell was raised near L.A.s old Olympic Auditorium. As a stuntman, LeBell reportedly endured a punch from John Wayne for the 1952 film Big Jim McLain and a kick in the face from Elvis Presley for Blue Hawaii in 1961. The boxer's camp even went as far to argue for the stipulation that Savage could use any type of punch, but the judoka could not kick or use takedowns under the waist. Heffay Cadiente, Big congrats Uncle Gene! "My name is Gene LeBell. The loss by the hometown boxer nearly caused a riot to breakout and despite the promotions attempt to calm the violence, Gene LeBell was nearly stabbed on the way out of the venue. The pictures above are from the TV show Fall Guy and I told Gene I didnt want to hit him on the bike and he said I dont want you to hit me eitheryou may hurt yourself. Congratulations Gene, you earned this award and no one in this world is taking it away from the Toughest man Alive. Jack Gill. [30], LeBell and Ginsburgs were former friends and business partners of Hall. [2] He was born in Los Angeles. A pioneer of martial arts, he lived a long and fascinating life. Congratulations Gene LeBell! Bob Debbie Hennessey, Congrats Gene. It is alleged that as soon as LeBell placed his arms around Seagal's neck and Seagal said "go" that LeBell choked him unconscious. However, the writing was on the wall for Savage: LeBell threw and then mounted the boxer in the second round, although he couldnt secure a finish, then hip-tossed him in the fourth round before using a gi choke to render his foe unconsciousmuch to the displeasure of the crowd, which was unused to seeing people choked in this way. It was Beck's contention that a boxer would be able to defeat any martial artist in a fight and he put up $1000 to anyone who defeat the boxer in this challenge match. Gene was an actor and stuntman in Hollywood productions for over fifty years with more than 150 acting credits and 250 stunt credits. LeBells years of stunt work and fight choreography also introduced grappling to the world of action movies, where it is now commonplace to see fighters turned actors such as Randy Couture and Gina Carano using submission holds in their action sequences. Freddie Blassie. Within seconds, Savage fell unconscious and LeBell was declared the winner. I was told that all the judo and karate people were not making any money at that time; they were starving, LeBell recalled in that interview. "Judo" Gene LeBell the "Godfather of Grappling" is both a renowned ex-world champion in both wrestling/judo, and one of Hollywood's busiest stuntmen. Norman Howell, Congratulations Gene LeBell an incredible Honor an so well deserved. He subsequently dominated auditions for the role of Mr. Kryptonite in the Superman TV series, which ran from 1952 to 1958; actor George Reeves, who played the Man of Steel, hired him on the spot after seeing his high-flying judo rolls and flips. Bryan Danielson's LeBell Lock was named after the legendary grappler. Gene LeBell, the colorful judo champion, wrestler and stuntman who trained Bruce Lee, fought Elvis Presley and John Wayne in the movies and was an inspiration for Brad Pitt's character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, has died.He was 89. [14], LeBell has opened two martial art schools in cooperation with others and has touted his 1963 match with Milo Savage as the first televised MMA fight in America.[15][16].