Pele, the greatest player soccer has ever known, passed away yesterday of colon cancer. He was 82.
Even if one is not a fan of soccer one is bound to know of Pele and his exploits. He is to soccer to Babe Ruth was to baseball, Wayne Gretzky was to hockey and Michael Jordan to basketball. Pele was and remains without peer.
Not only beloved in his native Brazil for winning three World Cup titles in three different decades, but he was responsible for popularizing soccer in Canada and the United States.
Pele was one of those individuals for whom people clamored to be in his presence. During a visit to Boston in 1975 in an exhibition match at Boston University's Nickerson Field, a mob charged the field not out of hate but just to share the same patch of earth.
More than 40 years after he scored his last goal, Pele remains a revered figure. It was Andy Warhol, who after painting his portrait when he came to play for the New York Cosmos in 1977, proclaimed that Pele would be famous for 15 centuries.
Of course, Pele is mortal like the rest of us and his time on Earth has come to its end. But the way he played the world's most popular sport will last centuries. No one could kick like Pele could. R.I.P.
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