Heres a good article i found about Rolls a while ago.
"He was one of those students that is always looking for the essence, the full knowledge of everything. He wasnt just satisfied with the basics. He always wanted to understand what made everything work and why. To me he was the best fighter in the family."
That was the great Carlson Gracie, talking about Rolls Gracie.
Most everyone on here has their favorite Gracie for some reason or another. Whether its Rickson, Royler, Carlos, Renzo or maybe Helio or Carlson. My personal favorite was Rolls. Here's some info about Rolls, summarized mostly from the book "The Gracie Way"
Rolls was born out of wedlock to Carlos Gracie and Claudia Zandomenico, an Italian stewardess. Since he was born out of wedlock, Carlos's wife didnt want to take care of Rolls, so Carlos entrusted brother Helio to raise his blond haired, blue eyed son. Rolls started teaching at the academy at an early age and the transition from student to teacher was seamless, as Rolls became one of the most sought after instructors around. He would train with Helio privately and got so technical, it was unbelievable. His knowledge of position and techniques was incredible.
He started training with Osvaldo Alves to improve his judo skills. He trained with Osvaldo nearly every day for one year and was introduced to hard training that Osvaldo had learned, while spending a considerable amount of time in Japan.
Rolls would enter every tournament there was, whether it was brazilian jiu jitsu, judo, sambo or wrestling. He especially liked sambo due to its many knee and foot submissions that brazilian jiu jitsu lacked at that time.
Rolls also learned wrestling from Bob Anderson, who has coached wrestlers such as Rulon Gardner, Dan Henderson, Randy Couture and Darrell Gohlar among others. He was one of the best coaches in the world at that time. Anderson was sent to Brazil by the World Wrestling Organization to develop wrestling programs in Brazil. It was there where he met Rolls Gracie. Anderson and Rolls became great friends. Anderson, who was 6'2 220 pounds called Rolls a renaissance man who learned quickly and understood more than jiu jitsu. He went on to say that Rolls was very tough and pound for pound there were very few like the 160 pound Rolls. Anderson later brought Rolls to San Clemente. Rolls wanted to represent Brazil in the Pan Am Championships in wrestling and in sambo. Anderson and Rolls entered the AAU National Championships and The YMCA National Championships. They both walked through the tournaments and destroyed the opposition, winning their respective divisions.
On June 6th 1982, the leader of the new generation of jiu jitsu fighters, who had revolutionized jiu jitsu in the seventies, met his destiny on a borrowed hang glider in the mountains of Maua. Apparently it was a bad day for flying and there wasnt enough wind but Rolls's stubborness took over, as he really wanted to fly. He took a bad drop and was found dead, tangled in the trees.
Rolls had 3 sons, Igor, Gregor, Rolls Jr. and wife Angela.
The things I admired most about Rolls was his open-mindedness and creativity to learn different arts and constantly improve himself. Along with that, I admired his very well documented intensity. When Zulu had challenged the Gacie family to a vale tudo fight, Helio was going to have Rolls fight him but Zulu said "I'll fight anyone in the family except for that blond one!" The teenage Rickson ended up fighting him. Rolls's influence on Rickson and Royler is unmistakable.
Rolls died in his prime. He was 31 years old. He is credited for developing many of the newer aspects of jiu jitsu, including many techniques from the guard, while adding elements of sambo and wrestling. A true pioneer and truly ahead of his time.
