Obrigado Pele!
 

The Great One has passed

Rip

My parents met him at a disco in NYC back in the mid-70's. They got his autograph, addressed to me, on a napkin. Unfortunately, we lost it in the intervening years. According to them, he was very friendly and chatted for a while. I was born in Brazil, so as you can imagine, he was in my consciousness from a very early age.

^^^^ That's very cool. He grabbed everyone's attention back in the day.... I can just imagine how revered he must have been back in your home country.

RIP Pele....

One of my childhood heroes. Larger than life.

As a kid growing up playing soccer in the U.S. in the 1960's-1970's, I was very much "odd man out" with regards to sports. My German mother and Irish father very strongly felt that this was the only suitable sport for a young man, so it was all they let me play. It was hard to find heroes. The fact that Pele penetrated the American sporting conscience during those years says an awful lot about the man.

I had the pleasure of watching him play for his country, for Santos, and for the New York Cosmos. I'll never forget. Totally star-struck. The man was magic, in a way so few athletes ever achieve.

RIP

He qualifies to be on a list of World's greatest athletes...I say this despite my not being a soccer fan. I do appreciate total excellence, no matter the game or sport.

A true legend of the game. RIP Sir.

Pele was often seen at Studio 54. Maybe that's were your parents met him?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672359954.jpg

Definitely on the soccer Mount Rushmore.

RIP Great One!

This photo was Pele's first visit to the Polo Grounds in NY. My dad is the ref on the right side of the picture.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1672410434.jpg

It wasn't at Studio 54 - not sure my parents were cool enough to be admitted :)

I'll have to ask them if they recall the name of the club.