Brazilian Media Hail Pele Birthday; He Keeps His Cool
Brazil’s press and television united today in paying homage to their country’s most famous son, Pele the “king of soccer,” on his 50th birthday.
Globo, Latin America’s biggest television network, recalled Pele’s career with a series of film clips.
But the man who inspired Brazil to three World Cup triumphs spent the day quietly, out of the glare of publicity, with his thoughts turned to next week’s special commemorative charity game in Milan where he will lead a Brazilian side against a rest of the world squad.
Newspapers brought out special supplements, packed with adoring articles and dozens of photographs.
In Santos, the southeastern port city where the career of the “Black Pearl” began to take off as a boy of 15, municipal officials announced plans for a Pele statue on the beach and a museum to display trophies won during his 21-year career, which ended with the New York Cosmos in 1977.
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