Tabla de contenidos para Remembering Pele en Remembering Pelé

“Everybody has a mission; everybody has a goal. It was my dream that the United States would someday know soccer as does the rest of the world.” —Pelé, June 10, 1975, upon joining the New York Cosmos And just like that, after decades of virtual anonymity, the world’s favorite pastime had arrived in the United States—its final frontier —in the person of the most popular team-sport athlete on the planet. Brazilian superstar, Pelé was signed out of retirement to an unheard of three-year, $4.7 million contract to play for the New York Cosmos (and reportedly an additional $2.3 million to work for the teams’ parent company, Warner Communications). By the time of his re-retirement in 1977, Pelé’s Cosmos had tapped into America’s undiscovered demand for the world’s most popular spectator…

By the time he was 29, Pelé had conquered the world. He had won three World Cups. He had led Santos FC to a pair of Intercontinental Cups championships. His presence for an international friendly in Nigeria produced a cease fire in a civil war. And the incomparable Brazilian had unprecedented adulation as one of the most, if not the most recognizable sports figure on the planet, with too many honors and accolades to mention in this space. Well, he had conquered most of the world. There was one land his influence hadn’t fully touched —the soccer wasteland called the United States. Sure, Pelé and Santos and the Brazilian national team went on tour, but it was like the circus coming to town. Here one day, gone the next. Clive…

A cloud‌ of dust and auto exhaust hangs over the still, Sunday streets of Rio de Janeiro. It’s mid-autumn in South America, but the city’s skyline and liquid green hillsides shimmer summer hot. A pale-blue Fiat with a black man in the passenger seat picks its way among the shabby streets of a working class barra, crisscrossing back and forth beneath the long shadows of the overhead freeway, lost. “Eh, Chiboa,” the driver calls, using a slang equivalent of dude to stop the barefoot, shirtless man hurrying across the pavement, a liter of cold brew in each fist. “Which way to Vasco’s stadium?” The shirtless man tosses a couple of words back over his speckled shoulder then disappears into the dark shadows. The blue Fiat wheels left, then right, back…

HOW FITTING IT WAS that the final gift Pelé would give to the World Cup was a work of staggering, unselfish simplicity. It was 1970 of course—Pelé’s third Final in four World Cups. Brazil were 3-1 up in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca against an Italian team worn down by the soccer schooling the Brazilian had inflicted on them for the last 85 minutes. It began without fanfare. Brazil’s wandering frontman Tostao won the ball in his own half and gave the ball to defender Brito. He in turn gave it to Clodoaldo, who gave it to Pelé, who gave it to Gerson, who gave it back to Clodoaldo. And we still were in Brazil’s own half! A gang of four frustrated Italians descended on Clodoaldo, but he spun and danced…

Pelé’s tired eyes were well disguised behind tinted glasses on this warm fall morning in New York’s Kennedy Airport. Neither his wrinkle-free black suit with the pleated sleeve inserts nor the briefcase dangling from his left hand suggested the thousands of miles and tens of thousands of Europeans who had mobbed and worshipped him during a 30-day international tour that had just ended. Now, as Pelé leaned lightly against a wall waiting to say goodbye to his fellow New York Cosmos, a young American couple approached him. “Excuse me,” the husband asked, “haven’t I seen you on television or in the movies?” “Maybe the Johnny Carson Show?” Pelé replied in his caressing bass, lifting his eyebrows slightly. A few feet behind the Brazilian, one of the Cosmos helped the strangers…

Ranked by the International Olympic Committee 1 PELÉ Nation: Brazil Sport: Scoccer 2 Muhammad Ali Nation: USA Sport: Boxing 3 Carl Lewis Nation: USA Sport: Track & Field 4 Michael Jordan Nation: USA Sport: Basketball 5 Mark Spitz Nation: USA Sport: Swimming Most Career World Cup Goals 16 Miraslav Klose Germany 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 15 Ronaldo Brazil 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 14 Gerd Müller Germany 1970, 1974 13 Just Fontaine France 1958 13 Lionel Messi Argentina 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 12 Pelé Brazil 1958, 1962, 1966, 1970 12 Kylian Mbappé France 2018, 2022 Most FIFA Recognized Goals, All-Time, Men’s Soccer 1 Cristiano Ronaldo 2 Josef Biclan 3 Lionel Messi 4 Romario 5 Pelé Ballon d’Or All-Time Dream Team as chosen in 2020 Forwards Midfielders Defenders Goalkeeper Memories of Pelé…

The short, stocky Black man looked suspicious. He came into the airport in Salisbury, Rhodesia, carrying a suitcase, guarding it as if he were concealing something. “Open the case,” he was commanded. The man clicked the catches, the top snapped up—and $100,000 was sitting in the case. After his arrest, the man explained that he was Pelé, the world’s most famous—and, at that time, its richest—athlete. The money? Well, his soccer team, Santos of Brazil, was on an exhibition tour and every time he played an exhibition game Pelé received $10,000 in cash. Where else should he keep his money but in a suitcase? Today, any self-respecting athlete would need at least two suitcases. At higher prices than ever before, more people than ever before are paying to watch their…

When you shook hands with Pelé, you shook hands with the world. In June 2013, I found myself with a small group of colleagues in conference room at the Four Seasons hotel in midtown Manhattan. Sports Illustrated had planned a major story on Pelé in advance of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and I had helped facilitate an interview for our writer, Scott Price. Pelé had just come out of an event to mark the relaunch of the fabled New York Cosmos. The place had been packed with dozens of reporters, business types and curious onlookers, plus photographers and video cameras—a larger crowd than you might expect for the quixotic reboot of a long-dormant franchise into the minor leagues of American soccer. It hadn’t mattered. Young women dressed as…