The greatest player in the history of the game. There are four letters and two vowels. A code word. Everyone understands a concept from the game.
Fans, but also people who had never watched a football game, as well as those who had but hated the sport, were all affected by the meaning of the word "pelo". He was also known as David Beckham before David Beckham. Before Michael Jordan, before Michael Jordan. The man before the man, Jesse Owens. He was the game's first global superstar and he was paid a lot of money. He won the World Cup three times.
He was the reference point for a lot of things. He redefined the sport and made it his own. He meant something to the obsessives who traveled hundreds of miles to see him train and play, and he meant something to the people who don't know much about soccer.
You will be floored by the amount of time you spend on the internet. From the original ZICO to the current one. From Wayne Rooney all the way to the man himself. It wasn't about how you looked or how you played, it was about how good you could be. It was the ultimate benchmark.
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It's no wonder that the media phenomenon coincides with a decline in the world's population. His career began in Brazil in the 60's and ended in the US in 1977. He won the World Cup with Brazil in the 1960's and 70's.
In some places, it was necessary to have a TV in the kitchen, bedroom, and living room. It meant having one in your home or neighborhood. When it came to football, more often than not, it was the name of the game. Some people saw him more than others. The World Cup, and the legends they created, were magnified and amplified by television.
You had to watch him live because there was no highlight package on your phone. He was able to go viral via word of mouth. Today's global stars can be seen on our screens through a variety of media. The bar for access was much higher back then than it is now.
He finished up in technicolor after coming out in black and white. He did more than what he did on the field. The smile was infectious and there was a glint in the eye. The transition from superstars to ambassadors/institutions was made by Pele early on. It is possible that he got it before everyone else.
The sport of the future, soccer, was made into a mainstream sport in the United States by the man known as Pele. If the goal was to transform one type of football into something as dominant as the other, he came up short. He succeeded if the goal was to raise awareness and plant a seed that could be grown for many years.
The Brazilian government made it impossible for a European club to sign him. It marked his career on two levels because he was 21 at the time.
It meant that most of the world would only see him at the World Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. He delivered on that stage a lot. The world beyond Brazil heard the echoes of those performances.
The legend was self- perpetuating. What could it not be? He scored the goal against Sweden in the World Cup final, when he chested the ball, spun around, and rammed it into the back of the net? The 1962 strike against Mexico, when he picked up the ball in his own half, accelerated into space, beating one defender after another (six in total) and then bulleted the ball into the corner, was one of the greatest strikes of all time. He scored the headed goal in the 1970 World Cup final against Italy, when he leaped over Tarcisio Burgnich.
The late Burgnich told me years after that the cross came in and they both jumped as high as possible. I came down to earth. He stayed up there and scored.
The goals are the only ones that matter. Even when he missed, like when he ran past the ball and froze the keeper, he was still an icon.
For most of the world, these moments were rare, but they are still remembered because they happened on the biggest stage. His week-in, week-out performances with Santos did not garner the global visibility he would have had for a top European side. The Brazilian league was one of the best in the world at the time, but it didn't get as much attention as it could have.
It planted an early awareness of the fact that he was more than a gifted footballer. He stood up for what he thought was right. There are a lot of things. He embraced the power of the media and used it to his advantage.
There was a dark side to that tag. It made him a tool of the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil for two decades. Critics said that it allowed the regime to show that all was well when it paraded a smiling Pele around. If an Afro-Brazilian, born in a slum, could be successful, wealthy and popular, then surely there was nothing wrong.
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For most of his life, he was a political person, but he didn't understand politics or the excesses of the military regime. Muhammad Ali was blackballed from boxing for three and a half years after he refused to be drafted for the Vietnam War. Comparisons seem unfair. Ali paid a heavy price for speaking out in a democracy. At the time, this wasn't the case for Brazil.
When the Brazilian government tried to get him to come out of retirement in 1973, he turned them down because he had left the national team to concentrate on club football. By that time, he had become aware of the torture used by Brazil's president.
He said that the military tried to force him. I decided to stick to my position despite the pressure.
The Netherlands defeated Brazil in the semifinals of the World Cup. Coming off a season in which he finished as the top scorer in the Brazilian league, it might have been different for Brazil in 1974. He could have won a fourth World Cup and competed in his sixth. He wouldn't allow himself to be used as a symbol of something he disliked.
He was just as valuable to advertisers and marketers as he was. He was the first person to communicate with the world. He's been in ads for almost every brand under the sun, from Viagra to Ray-O-Vac.
Fernando Palomo talked about the legacies of a soccer player and an ambassador.
While serving as a United Nations ambassador, he fronted for countless charities and organizations advocating social change. He sounded like a politician, but he was also the kind of person who said the right things to the right crowd.
He continued like this until his final days, hop-scotching across the globe, spreading whatever message he felt he had to spread, but most of all representing himself, and the world's idea of him and who he was. It was a big responsibility.
A lot to do.
It took 20 years for Diego Maradona to be able to start a "greatest of all time" debate. It would take 25 years after that for other candidates to join the discussion.
That is the legacy of the man. All records eventually give way to the march of time. At a time when the game was booming and the football world was getting smaller, the GOAT status will remain. When he embraced the ambassador status that had been thrust upon him and used it as a force for good, his life will follow suit.
That's why they keep their power. They can open the lock to almost any football fan.
Pe-les.
We're aware of what that means. We know what he was talking about. Everyone did.
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