Life history of Pele

He was born in Três Corações, Brazil, the son of a Fluminense footballer Dondinho (born João Ramos do Nascimento) and Maria Celeste Arantes.[10] He was named after the American inventor Thomas Edison,[11] and was originally nicknamed Dico by his family.[10][9][12] He did not receive the nickname "Pelé" until his school days, when it is claimed he was given it because of his pronunciation of the name of his favorite player, local Vasco da Gama goalkeeper Bilé, which he misspoke "Pilé".[12] He originally disliked the nickname, being suspended from school for punching the classmate that coined it,[13] but the more he complained the more it stuck. In his autobiography, Pelé stated he had no idea what the name means, nor did his old friends.[10] Apart from the assertion that the name is derived from that of Bilé, the word has no known meaning, although it does resemble the Irish language word peile, meaning football.[14]Growing up in poverty in Bauru, São Paulo, Pelé earned extra money by shining shoes at the Bauru Athletic Club on match days. Taught to play by his father, whose own professional football career with Atlético Mineiro ended prematurely due to a knee injury, he could not afford a proper football and usually played with either a sock stuffed with newspaper, tied with a string[10] or a grapefruit.[15]His first team was called the "shoeless ones" formed by himself and other boys from the Sete de Setembro and Rubens Arruda street.[citation needed] When they entered a local tournament organised by the mayor of Bauru that required footwear, they were no longer shoeless and were renamed Ameriquinha.[citation needed] They reached the final in BAC Stadium in front of thousands of spectators and won with Pelé ending up as the tournament top scorer.[citation needed]In 1954, several members of the Ameriquinha team, including Pelé, were invited to join the Baquinho boy's team to be managed by former Brazilian international Waldemar de Brito, who played in the 1934 World Cup in Italy. For the first time, Pelé was paid to play football.[citation needed] The team won the 1954 Youth Championship organised by the newspapers Diario de Bauru and the São Paulo Sporting Gazette with Pelé scoring 148 goals in 33 games.[citation needed]At the age of 15 and a half, he joined the Santos FC junior team. He played for one season before joining the senior team.Club careerSantosIn 1956, de Brito took Pelé to Santos, an industrial and port city in the state of São Paulo, to try out for professional club Santos Futebol Clube telling the directors at Santos that the 15-year-old would be "the greatest football player in the world."[16]During his time at Santos, Pelé played alongside many gifted players, including Zito, Pepe, and Coutinho; the latter partnered him in numerous one-two plays, attacks, and goals.Pelé made his debut for Santos in September 7, 1956, scoring one goal in a 7–1 friendly victory over Corinthians.[17] When the 1957 season started, Pelé was given a starting place in the first team and, at the age of just 16, became the top scorer in the league. Just ten months after signing professionally, the teenager was called up to the Brazil national team. After the World Cup in 1962, wealthy European clubs offered massive fees to sign the young player, but the government of Brazil declared Pelé an "official national treasure" to prevent him from being transferred out of the country.[18]On November 19, 1969, Pelé scored his 1000th goal in all competitions. This was a highly anticipated moment in Brazil.[11] The goal, called popularly O Milésimo (The Thousandth), occurred in a match against Vasco da Gama, when Pelé scored from a penalty kick, at the Maracanã Stadium.[11]Pelé states that his most beautiful goal was scored at Rua Javari stadium on a Campeonato Paulista match against São Paulo rivals Juventus on August 2, 1959. As there is no video footage of this match, Pelé asked that a computer animation be made of this specific goal.[11] In March 1961, Pelé scored the gol de placa (goal worthy of a plaque), a goal against Fluminense at the Maracanã which was regarded as so spectacular that a plaque was commissioned with a dedication to the most beautiful goal in the history of the Maracanã.[19]In 1967, the two factions involved in the Nigerian Civil War agreed to a 48-hour ceasefire so they could watch Pelé play an exhibition game in Lagos.