Born July 14, 1976 in Santa Fe, New Mexico is Gracie Barra’s first American Jiu Jitsu Black Belt, Alberto Crane. As a kid Alberto traveled and lived not just in America, he spent seven years of his youth living in Germany with his parents and two sisters. His first actual grappling partner was his older sister. He attended High School in New York, but his heart has always belonged to Santa Fe, New Mexico, that is the town he calls his home and its where his family resides.

Alberto did not begin Jiu Jitsu at an early age like many Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belts have, he actually played soccer, he did a little boxing and wrestling when he was in elementary school. It was not until he was 18 years old and after some friends who had been bugging him for six months to go attend a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class, that he finally got his first taste of Jiu Jitsu. “Once I did one class I was hooked! Then after I saw Royce Gracie, I saw the mixed martial arts, the vale tudo fighting and of course it pumped me up even more you know that I was doing something that really worked, that was really effective,” said Alberto Crane.