The year 1996 brought with it a crushing loss for the Combate Real Academy. This was the passing away of Diogo, who was known by everyone as Diogo “Big Ears”. Diogo was a yellow belt at the school, who really enjoyed competing and who was always travelling with the team. He was loved by all.
While fooling around with a gun with his older brother, Diogo accidentally shot himself in his own home and passed away with a wound to the head. At the time of his passing, he was Fernanda’s boyfriend, who happens to be Fábio’s sister. Grief took hold of friends, family, and everyone in the school, and the burial was unforgettable.
Diogo was only 15 years old at the time, but the whole group was also very young and the funeral was an event that had affected everyone. Diogo was buried in a gi, with his yellow belt tied around his waist and the Combate Real flag on his chest.
Another coincidence is that Diogo went to the same school as Juliana (who would later become Fábio’s wife), and Fábio didn’t know her at the time. She was also at the burial but they didn’t meet during the ceremony. The seventh day mass was another memorable event, where roughly 300 friends and students from the school were there, all wearing a gi.
During the mass, Paulo da Praça (another friend from the Academy), received a call saying that his dad, Major Jorge, had been assassinated on a beach in the south coast. Fábio left with Paulo and headed straight to the Institute of Forensic Medicine. Upon arriving, Paulo’s dad was already getting his uniform put on him. He was killed by a shot to the head. It was a terrible week in which two people who were close to Fábio died, both from shots to the head.
At the academy, it was said that Diogo was Fábio’s younger brother because of the similarity between their ears. One was called Diogo “Big Ears” and the other was called Fábio “Big Ears”. One incident that Fábio always remembers when speaking of Diogo, is the day that he arrived at the school and Diogo was whispering with Rodrigo, the professor.
Diogo then told Rodrigo to annoy Fábio, by telling him that he was going out with his sister. Rodrigo, being the prankster that he was, ran with it and said, “Hey Fabinho, Diogo is telling me here that he’s banging your sister, what the hell is that?”. Diogo became pale, concerned and said, “No professor, I didn’t say that, no Fabinho…”. This is the way Fábio remembers Diogo, the day he went to the academy and Rodrigo played this prank on him.
Another memorable moment for Fábio was during Fernanda (his sister)’s 15th birthday party. Everyone, including parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, were sitting at the table when Diogo arrived with another guy, who was very polite and greeted everyone. This guy who had come with Diogo had been speaking badly about Fernanda. Noone at the table knew what was going on, and they all looked at them in silence. Then Diogo spoke and said, “Fabinho, this is the guy that was speaking badly about your sister. Can I punch him in the face now? If you want, I’ll give him a beating right now!”.
Everyone was at the table watching as Diogo continued, “Apologize now!”. The boy replied that he hadn’t said anything, so Diogo asked, “You calling me a liar, dude? Apologize now!”. Then the guy said he was sorry and promised he would not do it again.
Diogo then turns to Fábio and asks, “So Fabinho, do you accept his apology? You think we should let him go?” Fábio answered yes, and that since the boy apologized, it was already settled. Diogo insisted saying, “So we don’t need to give this scoundrel a beating right?”. Fábio repeated that it really wasn’t necessary, so Diogo finished by saying, “Alright then, sorry everyone, good night to you all, I’m going to take this scoundrel out of the party.” This was Diogo!!!