Edson Arantes Do Nascimento, otherwise known as Pele, was one of the greatest soccer players ever to live. He was born to a poor family in Tres Coracos, Brazil. His first nickname was "Dico", given to him by his parents, but when playing with some children, they called him "Pele" which actually means nothing in any language. The name stuck, and would soon become one of the most recognizable names in the sports world. His father, who was a professional soccer player himself, introduced him to the game.
He started out playing in the streets with other children, but at the age of 11, one of the countries best players saw him and immediately recognized his amazing talent. He brought him to a professional team and he began playing at the age of 16. In his first game he scored a goal. The team he was playing for was Santos.
He was placed on Brazil's national soccer team, and at the age of 17, he led his team to victory in the World Cup, scoring 6 goals himself. He went on to play in 3 more World Cups, and won 2 more. Along the course of his career, he played 1,360 games, and scored 1,280 goals, an average of almost one every game. Because it is so hard to score a goal in soccer, to accomplish this would be similar in comparison to a baseball player hitting a home run in every World Series game over 15 years. He also has the world record for hat tricks (scoring 3 goals in one game) at 92.
He was an amazing player, and very interesting to watch. Once, in Nigeria, a 2-day truce was signed in the war of Biafra, just so they could watch him play. In addition, the government of Brazil actually declared him a national treasure, to prevent him from transferring to the teams of other countries. In 1978, he received the International Peace Award, and in 1980, he was crowned athlete of the century. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1993, was named Minister of Sport for Brazil in 1994, and in 2000, ...