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Pel\u00e9, agreed upon by all who would decide such things to be among the finest athletes who ever lived, died at 82 in S\u00e3o Paulo according to his manager, Joe Fraga<\/strong>. Born into poverty in 1940 in Tr\u00eas Cora\u00e7\u00f5es, Brazil, Pel\u00e9 followed in his father\u2019s footsteps to become a professional soccer player, but it was clear from a young age that he was a rising star and remarkable player. He left home at 15 to play professionally for Santos FC<\/a>, and at 17 scored two goals in the 1958 World Cup finals in Sweden. He led his nation to two more wins (and one controversial loss) on the world stage, then came out of retirement to play for the New York Cosmos in 1975. He frequently appeared on television and was a UNESCO goodwill ambassador<\/a>. His overstocked shelf of awards and prizes extended well beyond the world of sports, to include, among other things, an honorary knighthood by the British Empire. He was 82 years old.\u00a0<\/p>\n Andy Warhol, who once immortalized the soccer legend in a series of portraits, once said that Pel\u00e9 would have \u201c15 centuries\u201d of fame, a play on his well-known quote about everyone having their 15 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pel\u00e9 was born Edson Arantes do Nascimento, named for the inventor Thomas Edison. He earned his nickname as a child when he mispronounced the name of a local soccer player named Bil\u00e9. What began as teasing stuck, and though the word Pel\u00e9 has no meaning in Portuguese, some have noted over the years that it means \u201cmiracle\u201d in Hebrew<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s apt for the athlete whose stats make him the clear greatest of all time in his chosen field. Pel\u00e9 holds the Guinness World Record<\/a> for the highest number of goals at an astonishing 1,279. There are understandable asterisks about whether \u201cfriendly\u201d matches should count (and you can go down that rabbit hole<\/a> if you like), but there was more to Pel\u00e9\u2019s greatness than just his numbers. His style of play made him dangerous with either foot, and he worked the field with alacrity and flair. While he did not invent the so-called \u201cbicycle kick<\/a>,\u201d it became his signature move, recognizable even to non-soccer fans, and deployed in some of his most memorable plays.<\/p>\n This content can also be viewed on the site it originates<\/a> from.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Pel\u00e9\u2019s first trip to the FIFA World Cup in 1958 ended with a victory for Brazil against host nation Sweden. This was the Brazilian team\u2019s first win, eight years after an upset loss to Uruguay in 1950 when Brazil hosted the tournament. (That game, the Maracanazo<\/a>, the most highly attended sporting event in history with close to 175,000 people, is still spoken about in hushed tones<\/a> by Brazilians.)<\/p>\n Four years later, Pel\u00e9 and the Brazilian national team repeated their win, this time against Czechoslovakia in Chile. He led the team to victory in the early rounds against Mexico (in what is one of his most fondly remembered games<\/a>) but ended up getting injured midway through the tournament, and sitting out the final.\u00a0<\/p>\nContent<\/h4>\n