Grappler takes life to the mat

Philip Bancel understands the concept of YOLO (you only live once) better than perhaps many millennials.

The 75-year-old retiree has traveled the world, is multilingual, appeared on a TV show (“Magnum, P.I.”), and continues to pursue his passions — including Brazilian jiujitsu.

It’s a passion he took up at age 71, and he is beating competitors half his age.

“I do jiujitsu everywhere. I’m about to go to Russia. I’m going to be doing it in Moscow and St. Petersburg,” said Bancel.

When asked what it’s like to have beaten younger competitors, Bancel said, “it’s bizarre, because you get used to beating younger people … every belt. Even black belts get beaten by blue belts, at times. I make it impossible for anybody to do whatever they want. You have to be able to adapt, and I’m getting good at that.”

Bancel’s wife of 47 years, Barbara, said she sometimes gets nervous watching her husband wrestle. “You won’t find me hanging around the jiujitsu gym. Once in a while, if there’s some competition going on, I’ll be supportive, but I don’t want to watch. I used to take a Time magazine so when it got too stressful I could read. I don’t like blood.”

Bancel trains at the Honolulu Jiu Jitsu Academy in Kahala, where Kayle Quinn is his instructor.

“He’s always willing to share his knowledge and experience with younger students, even older ones, as well. He proves that you can be any age and do jiujitsu,” said Quinn.

“A lot of people have the mindset that it’s only for young people, but you can train jiujitsu to your own abilities, age or body type. Everybody can get something out of it. I think he proves that.”

Bancel said progression with jiujitsu is generally slow. “I started at 71. Maybe if I live long enough, I’ll be a black belt when I die, but probably I won’t reach higher than brown.”

Bancel was born in Cannes, France, to a Jewish family. When he was 1 month old, his family left France during World War II, eventually settling in Switzerland using a diplomatic passport from Bulgaria, as his mother was born in Sofia. His family was thus able to avoid the scourge of Nazism.

“My father had to walk (to Switzerland) because he didn’t have a passport. It took him six months to figure out how to get through the minefields and the border patrols and so on,” said Bancel.

The rest of his youth was spent in England, where he went to high school. He attended college at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris, studying museum administration. He later worked as a wholesale antiques dealer in London.

Bancel came to the United States in the 1960s, settling in San Francisco and working as a bellhop in a hotel. He met his wife there in the elevator, and she invited him to her room for pizza. They were eventually married in a civil ceremony in Castroville, Calif., and later married religiously in a synagogue in San Jose.

Bancel and his wife moved to Hawaii 40 years ago. “We decided that if we liked Hawaii so much, why come here when we were old and crotchety? We might have more money, but we wouldn’t be able to be young and take in the vicissitude of Hawaii the same way as we can when we are young. So, we made the punch, and that was that.”

Bancel worked as a precious metals trader, among other jobs, and began coaching high school wrestling at Punahou School, Kailua High School and Radford High School, as well as for the Marine Corps.

Bancel keeps active with other activities as well including bike riding, surfing and swimming. “I used to ride my bicycle here 50 miles at Barbers Point every morning nonstop,” he said.

Despite living in Hawaii, winter sports are also a draw for Bancel. He’s been skiing since he was 3 years old and picked up snowboarding much later in life — at the age of 65 — in Oregon. He says he can snowboard for free there because he is older 71. “It’s a big saving … like 400 bucks for the winter,” he said.

Bancel’s experiences throughout life have made him quite the cosmopolitan. He speaks French, English, Latin, Greek, German, Italian and Norwegian. “He taught himself Norwegian so that he could communicate with a bunch of Norwegian snowboarders,” said Barbara Bancel.

Bancel’s secret to longevity may be his willingness to be engaged not only physically but also mentally and socially.

“I think one of the nice things about sport is it puts you in contact with people of many different ages … from kids to college students to young adults, and I think that’s the way older people stay young,” Barbara Bancel said.

“In a way, I think that’s what his sport activities have done for him. I know that the sports are a great social connection. He has wonderful friends from all over the world,” she said.