Pele passed away from cancer today. 82 years old. Only 3 time winner of the World Cup and an inspiration to billions. Good bye to the King of Joga Bonito.
There was literally no bigger star in the world in the 1960's-70's. He was superhuman, and the legend was even bigger. Father time is still undefeated. RIP.
Victory is a top-10 movie from my childhood. I'm amazed that none of us youngsters broke our necks trying to do a bicycle kick
Without his appearance in that film, I don't think he would have been nearly as known and popular. In my case, I probably did discover him in the film and then checked out his play. I'm sure I'm not alone.
Pele was bigger for Futbol / Soccer than Gretzky for hockey, Jordan was for basketball, Ruth for baseball and even Ali for boxing. He's among the panthen of all sports.
rip breh. was victory the movie with rocky? i think i saw it once and thought pele was famous because of that. didn't know pele was a real player
The more I've absorbed the loss of Pele the more I've thought about this. About why, at 47, I still play soccer. I'm not in great shape and my knees are pretty shot. But it's what happens in those minutes on Sunday nights with my friends (some I've played with and against for the better part of 40 years) that I find very difficult to ever give up. The joy you see in Pele when he played and even just when he spoke about the beautiful game is how I still feel about it. When you add to that everything else he's done with his life to help others, he was so much more than just a great soccer player. The man literally stopped a civil war, if only temporarily. He was way more than just some crossover celebrity who was in that movie with Rocky. I've been reading many of the responses from players around the world. Even from clubs and national teams. When do you see teams a guy never even played for or against send their respects for someone? There were many great things said about him. As a player, I especially liked this one from Erling Haaland... That pic from my original post was from an ad for Umbro that was in Soccer America back in the 80's. I had that on my wall for years. I'd just stare at it, dreaming about being able to pull off a bike (I did, once).
Rest in Peace GOAT. I was learning about him and the sport more after traveling overseas and Brazil. For those new to him there is a ton of info online and Netflix recently made a movie about his life last year.
