RIP Pele

[Mike Thomas]

One of the greatest athletes in history has passed at 82 years old. When no one in America cared at all about soccer, or new a thing about it, we knew Pele.

It leads me to thinking about an international Mount Rushmore of sports heroes- Who would be on it?

I'd have - Muhammed Ali, Pele, Ayrerton Senna... then I'm not sure.

 

[cantunamunch]

Seeing him play in colour is weird.

 

[Jim McDonald]

That is a league of two:
Pele & Ali
-30-

 

[Jim Kenney]

It leads me to thinking about an international Mount Rushmore of sports heroes- Who would be on it?

I'm surely US/Western Hemisphere biased, but Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, and Usain Bolt were tops in sports that have wide international appeal.

Pele was a magnificent confluence of tremendous athlete and joyous human being. I thought Arnold Palmer was a good American example of that sort of charismatic athlete.

 

[Jim McDonald]

Bolt might qualify thanks to modern media coverage, except sprinters have a very short half-life. He'll be a vague memory in 10 more years.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

I think Mario Andretti and Babe Ruth would go on it.

 

[Tricia]

Just seeing this now...
Wow, thank you for sharing.
I'll be thinking about the Mount Rushmore theme.

 

[Shawn]

I feel sad for my father-in-law. When my wife was growing up playing youth soccer, he would encourage her with "Let's go baby Pele!" That generation had a real connection with him. To see the passing of legends must feel like a real confrontation with mortality. I will check in on him this weekend.

 

[dan ross]

Brazil team (s) , The New York Cosmos, and all around global ambassador for the sport . I’d encourage anyone who never saw him play or doesn’t remember to look it up as there are many clips of him. He was totally deserving of his worldwide recognition by a single name, Pele. RIP.

 

[PinnacleJim]

I was a young midshipman making my first training cruise in the 60s on a cargo ship hitting ports in Brazil. When we put Into Santos we were told not to the soccer stadium to go see Pele play as riots in the stands were common if things didn't go their way.