Renzo Gracie Academy

An honor to receive my 4th Degree black belt from Renzo Gracie yesterday. 

I’m in NYC this weekend for the BJJ Pan Am games and staying at a hotel by FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology). This brought back memories of my first time in NYC to begin my BJJ journey. 
Back in 1996 I had never been to NYC, my family lives 7 hours away from Manhattan in a village of 340 total people. The Village of Mannsville. I couldn’t wait to travel and start training with Renzo Gracie for that summer. I had no where to stay in NYC or no money at the time. So I sold a motorcycle I had in order to pay for my training etc. I then jumped on a greyhound bus and went to Manhattan. My x-girlfriend at the time went to FIT and told me that FIT allowed people to rent out dorm rooms during the summer. I could rent a dorm room for a week or 2 at FIT until I found a place to stay, so I did exactly that. By the end of that week my brother, Jim Creighton, found a college roommate that lived in Queens and said that he would let me stay on his dining room floor. So for the next three months I slept on his floor and loved every minute of it because the training at Renzo Gracie Academy was so amazing!  
The best decision I ever made was to start training in BJJ under my master and mentor Renzo Gracie back in 1996! Not sure what I would be doing today if I didn’t have Jiujitsu in my life. Thank you Renzo Gracie!!! Words cannot even begin to express my appreciation for everything you’ve taught me on the mats, but even more importantly what you’ve taught me off the mats! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🔝