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Astronuc
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
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Pelé (Oct 23, 1940 - Dec 29, 2022) had been on palliative care for some time. Playing for Brazil, he won 3 World Cups, and during his career scored an impressive (and apparently disputed) 1281 goals, mostly with his Santos team.
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/pele-t...n-national-treasure-dies-at-82-190426625.htmlThe boy who’d become king was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento on Oct. 23, 1940, in Tres Coracoes, a modest municipality in southeastern Brazil. He was raised 300 miles to the west in Bauru by his parents, Celeste Arantes and João Ramos do Nascimento, a housewife and a professional soccer player. Dad taught little Edson the sport.
They initially called him “Dico.” The nickname that stuck, “Pelé,” was a schoolboy creation. Edson’s classmates derived it from his mispronunciation of “Bilé,” a pro goalkeeper. Edson initially hated the name. “On one occasion, I punched a classmate because of it,” he’d later recall. But he eventually came around.
He honed his skills, meanwhile, on dusty pitches surrounded by neighborhood companions. When they didn’t have a ball to kick about, they made one, perhaps by stuffing a sock with newspaper and tying it tight with a string, or perhaps by converting a grapefruit.