Pelé had a connection with Miami and Fort Lauderdale. He even posed with Romero Britto
Pelé was the Brazilian king of soccer who won three World Cups. But he also played for the New York Cosmos at the end of his career and made several visits to South Florida to face the Fort Lauderdale Strikers and to promote the beautiful game after his playing days.
Pelé died on Thursday at age 82. Through the Miami Herald archives, here is a look back at his local connections.
Pele visits Miami and talks World Cup
Published 2014
By Michelle Kaufman
Four decades have passed since Pele mesmerized the world with his magical feet, and yet, the 73-year-old Brazilian soccer legend remains a go-to brand ambassador, especially this year, with the World Cup being held in his home country beginning June 12.
The iconic one-named star is as sought-after as he was in his prime, with an endorsement portfolio that includes Coca-Cola, Subway, Volkswagen, Emirates Air and Procter and Gamble.
Pele made a stop Monday at Romero Britto’s Wynwood art studio to promote Swiss watch maker Hublot, the “Official Timekeeper of the 2014 FIFA World Cup.”
Pele is the spokesman, and Britto, the Miami-based Brazilian pop artist, designed the covers for the limited-edition World Cup watch, which features yellow and green dials (Brazil’s national colors) and 45-minute timers to coincide with soccer-match halves.
Pele met with local media and touched on topics ranging from his World Cup favorites (Brazil, Germany, Spain), to Beckham’s Miami Major League Soccer plans and to memories of his father weeping when Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup.
He later spoke with the Miami Herald and was asked whether he faced racism during his playing days, in light of the Donald Sterling NBA racism scandal and Monday’s news from Spain that a fan threw a banana at Barcelona’s Brazilian defender Dani Alves while he attempted a corner kick. Alves responded by picking up the banana and eating it, drawing praise from fans all over the world.
“I never had any problems,” Pele said. “On the contrary, I have open doors all over the world, and I am received marvelously wherever I go. There are always crazy people who say things, but those things have never bothered me. I never paid attention.”
As for David Beckham’s plan to bring pro soccer back to Miami, Pele is delighted.
“To have a name like Beckham is very important [to the success of a Miami MLS team],” he said. “Everybody knows I came here with the Cosmos [in the late 1970s] to promote soccer and now you have a player like Beckham doing the same, and it is fantastic.
“I think it will do well not only in Miami, but the whole United States. People don’t remember, when I arrived, soccer in this country was good, but mostly with children. Today, the U.S. is the same level as Europe, they almost made semifinals in the 2002 World Cup, and the base is more organized than in Brazil and maybe all of South America. I am happy because I feel I was part of it.”
His main allegiance, though, is to Brazil. He tried to explain how much hosting a World Cup means to his country. He remembers as a 9-year-old boy going outside to kick the ball around with neighbors while his father and friends listened to the 1950 World Cup final on the radio.
Brazil hosted the Cup that year, and Uruguay won the championship game 2-1 over the host Brazilians at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
“All of a sudden I heard silence, so we ran inside to see what happened, and my father said, ‘We lost the World Cup.’ It was the first time I saw my father cry.”
He hopes to have a happier ending this summer. Pele, who scored 1,283 goals and won three World Cup titles, said he is confident the Brazilian team can handle the intense pressure and win a sixth World Cup title.
“It is a very big responsibility for Brazil to host the World Cup, and everyone in Brazil wants our team to win,” he said. “The Brazil of today is different from what we saw before. Almost all Brazilian players play in Europe, and we used to be known mainly for great forwards, but this team is better from the midfield back. The defense is fantastic.”
He sees Germany and Spain as the two biggest threats. He also believes the United States could make some noise.
“Klinsmann is a great trainer and has a lot of experience,” Pele said about U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann. “We have to respect American soccer today. The U.S. group if very difficult with Germany, Portugal and Ghana, but soccer is a box of surprises, so nobody knows what will happen. I think American fans should be hopeful, and I have no doubt they are good enough to advance.”
No one like Pele
Published 1994
By Dan Le Batard
The crowd was becoming a crush now, starting to suffocate the soccer salesman. He kept smiling, making eye contact, squeezing people on the arm. A microphone hit him in the ear. “Hello to the people of Mexico,” he said into the mike. Then a TV camera pushed inches from his nose. “Hello, Africa,” he said. “This is Pele . . . “
The security guards were starting to panic.
“People, let him breathe!” one security guard screamed Friday, pushing dozens of journalists and photographers and fans away. “Please, please let him breathe!”
After a few minutes, the security guard gave up and walked away, shaking his head.
“My God,” he said. “The poor man.”
The security guard had it backward.
“Man,” he should have said. “The poor god.”
Pele is 53, more than two decades removed from his prime, but the world’s best soccer player still has touch. Despite fractured English, he is a spokesman for American companies such as Pizza Hut and MasterCard and Time Warner. Here is why:
When a fan asked Pele a question Friday, Pele asked the fan to have a seat.
Not only that, he brought the fan a chair.
This has always been his way. He’ll tell you that Pele the player is immortal. But Edson Arantes do Nascimento - his given name - is just another man. That’s why, when a zealous fan with no paper recently approached him for an autograph, the world’s most famous athlete bent down and signed the man’s shoe.
When the New York Cosmos asked Pele to come out of retirement in 1974 to give life to a fledgling league, he worried his country might not approve. But he didn’t seek advice from celebrities or politicians or teammates. He talked to taxi drivers and bus boys.
This is the weight Pele still has in soccer circles: He recommended that the U.S. be allowed to host the Cup, and World Cup USA Chairman Alan Rothenberg calls Pele “the single most important person” in bringing it here.
“This has been the greatest World Cup ever,” Pele said Friday. “We’ve had filled-up stadiums. No violence. Great games. It has been beautiful. I have just one more thing to ask God, who has given me everything: Please give the World Cup trophy to Brazil.”
He is literally a rags-to-riches story, this man who learned the game by playing it barefooted with a ball made of rags. He liked that his father named him after American inventor Thomas Edison, and got into fights as a boy because kids teasingly called him Pele. He still doesn’t know what the nickname means -- it has no translation in Portuguese -- but he has learned to love it. Maybe because it is worth $30 million a year in endorsements.
Pele’s mother, Celeste, wanted him to be a doctor, spent much of her time clutching rosary beads and asking God to lead her son toward science instead of sport. She attended only one game, his last. She could have seen a million since and never seen a player as special as her son.
He was asked who is today’s Pele.
“Is me,” he said.
Many star players, as a sign of respect, wear his No. 10. In fact, Roberto Baggio, one of the game’s best players, says he has rarely been more hurt than he was when a reporter called him a 9 1/2.
“We don’t have one big name today,” Pele said. “There is no big difference between the good players. There are a lot of good players but no grand ones.”
There were supposed to be two guests of honor at a banquet Friday -- Pele and former English great Bobby Charlton. The master of ceremonies wrapped Charlton’s introduction in a fancy package, calling him Sir Bobby Charlton and reminding everyone in the room that Charlton had recently been knighted by the Queen of England. Pele was introduced simply as Pele.
Afterward, Charlton and Pele were escorted to another ballroom, for interviews. Pele was engulfed, hundreds of reporters elbowing each other as flash bulbs went off.
“Please,” a security person screamed. “I’m suffocating.”
The reporters had their backs to Charlton.
He sat in the corner, alone.
The knight in the shadow of the king.
Pele kicking off soccer tournament
Published 1986
It has been 7 1/2 years since he hung up his cleats and retired from the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League, but Pele’s entrance onto a soccer field still is a special occasion.
Arriving in a white stretch limousine, attired in a black satin jacket and looking remarkably trim, Pele received hugs from friends and well-wishers Saturday as he made his way onto the Orange Bowl turf to help promote the Miami Cup, a six-team tournament beginning today.
The former star for Santos and the Brazilian national team will kick out the first ball at 2 p.m. today before the Cup opener between Canada and Uruguay, two qualifiers for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. At 4 p.m., Colombia will meet Jamaica.
“It doesn’t matter who wins,” Pele said. “What’s important is that the teams put on a nice show for the people and score some goals.”
Pele, 46, generally acclaimed as the greatest player in soccer history, says he is concerned with Americans’ perception of the sport.
“The problem with soccer is that it is a new sport in this country,” he said. “First you have football and baseball.”
Pele cited poor administration as a major contributor to the demise of outdoor soccer in the United States. To create a successful outdoor league, he says, organizers must start small and concentrate on American players.
Clive Toye, a former executive with the Cosmos and the Toronto Blizzard and a former interim president of the NASL, agreed with Pele.
“The re-emergence of an outdoor league must be in the form of an American league with American players,” said Toye, who also attended Saturday’s kickoff. “Then our youth players could see a clear path to the professional level.”
The United States national team will play its first game at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Canada. At 9 p.m., Paraguay will play Jamaica. The tournament will conclude with matches at 7 and 9 p.m. Friday and the championship game at 2 p.m. next Sunday.
Pele Cup at Miami Gardens stadium
Published 1991
By Jim Martz
Roberto Dinamite, the Brazilian scoring star whose last name is really a nickname that describes his explosive style, poked his sneakers into the turf at Joe Robbie Stadium Thursday and smiled in approval.
“I like the grass here,” he said. “It looks good. But it won’t be after these games.”
Dinamite figures it will be torn up by all the legendary players competing in the Pele Cup ‘91, which begins tonight. He expects this six-nation masters tournament for players 34 and over to be a wide-open offensive show, a throwback to the World Cups of the 1970s and early 1980s, not the (yawn) defensive struggles of the 1990 World Cup.
“The game has become too defensive, especially in Europe,” Dinamite said. “It takes away from the game. It’s not really beautiful when they play defensively.
“For the masters teams, the coaches say they will try to be more offensive, show a more beautiful game.”
Pele will kick the ceremonial first ball before the 6:30 opener between England and Uruguay. Italy will play Germany at 8:45. Sunday, Brazil faces Germany at 3 p.m. and Argentina takes on Uruguay at 5:15.
Never before in the United States has there been such an array of soccer talent at one place as there is for this tournament. The teams represent the six nations that have won the World Cup, and most of the players have World Cup experience and have played in dozens of international games.
True, their legs don’t move as quickly as a few years ago. But the skills - the deft passing, dribbling and shooting - remain.
“They play a great game, an open game, and they give a show to the people,” said Pele, the sport’s greatest spokesman.
Added Italian forward Alessandro Altobelli: “This is a beautiful tournament because players who made friendships come together again, and it’s a good occasion to play games at a high technical level.”
David Irving and Thomas Rongen, coaches of the American Professional Soccer League’s Miami Freedom and Fort Lauderdale Strikers, believe the tournament can be a learning experience for young American players.
“This is great for the sport in this country,” Rongen said. “These are the players who epitomize soccer. For younger players looking for role models, these are the games.”
Irving added, “These guys never lose their skills. They’re obviously in good condition and can still play. Kids can learn a lot because the players are a little slower, and they can get a taste of what the World Cup players were like.”
And of what the World Cup could be like when it is held for the first time in the United States in 1994. Miami is considered a lock to be awarded some of the games.
The first two Pele Cups were played in Brazil - with Argentina defeating the hosts in the 1987 final and Brazil beating Uruguay in the 1989 final. Those tournaments didn’t draw as strong a field as this year’s tournament. Masters soccer, like the golden oldies of the PGA Seniors tour, is gaining in stature.
“In Brazil, a lot of people prefer to see the seniors than the national team,” Pele said.
The tournament offers a chance to settle old scores. Wouldn’t Bernd Forster, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and their German teammates like to avenge their loss to Paolo Rossi and his Italian teammates at the 1982 World Cup final in Spain?
“Why not?” Forster said with a grin.
Rossi, whose six goals made him the leading scorer in the 1982 World Cup, will play for Italy tonight against the Germans.
The tournament has attracted about 200 international reporters, broadcasters and photographers. It will be televised to the participating nations and to all Spanish-speaking nations on Univision.
This story was originally published December 29, 2022 at 5:37 PM.
