In 2000, the remake of the Checkered Competition Gi made famous by Joe Lewis, team leader of the Tracy Fighting Team, made its’ debut at the Blue Grass National Karate Tournament in Kentucky.
The special gi’s were reborn and limited by GGM Al Tracy to two hundred Tracy students after almost thirty years. This gi was not to be a novelty gi, but be earned as the original gi was in the 70’s. Al Tracy was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2000 and correlated the reintroduction of the Checkered Gi at that event.
Al Tracy met with us at numerous tournaments around the country for years, prior to releasing the Checkered Gi’s again. When he saw his students winning, he said to Becky and Greg, Let’s try to redesign the famous Gi for a onetime comeback, not to be done ever again. We took on the challenge. The pattern had to be the same as the original, or very close. We gathered input from one of our very talented black belts to help to get this project underway. Kim came to the forefront and began the remake of the famous pattern print. She spent weeks and extra hours before finally duplicating the original pattern to wait approval from GGM Al Tracy. He took his own time to finalize the print pattern to his satisfaction.
Then it was time for the next step. We ordered the material that had to be the right weight for competition. Not heavyweight or Not lightweight. We conferred with Gi manufacturers about the right material which would be best for a Competition Gi. They lined us up with the right material in bulk for the two hundred Gi’s. GGM Tracy approved their decision and we ordered the material.
Becky, then began the search for the appropriate professionals to continue this project. After finding someone who would agree not to duplicate these Gi’s, we settled on Choi Bros. in Chicago for the cutting of the material into the pattern pieces for the Gi’s. Next, Becky found someone who could lay out the screens for printing, which again had to match the original from the layout. The project worked out very good and Choi Bros. sewed and finished the GI’s. The surprise was…..We had enough material to make pants as well! GGM Tracy really didn’t want the pants, but they were in the mix.
There are lots of stories and time involved getting this project done. The Gi tops have represented the Tracy’s and have been seen being worn by competitors entering mixed martial arts competition, kickboxing competition, bare knuckle competition, as well as point sparring at tournaments. We did find that the top was not good for kata competition, because the judges found it distracting to see clear movement for form.
We wish more people knew what these Gi’s meant and not to be worn for show, but for competition. There are knockoffs around and perhaps some who don’t know or have lost the meaning of what the Checkered Gi meant to GGM Al Tracy.
