Leather. Santos, Brazil.
For decades, adoring fans around the world have sent thousands of letters, postcards and packages to the sports legend without his address or full name.
Almost without fail, they reached Edson Arantes do Nascimento’s office in the port city he made famous.
Santos was founded by the Portuguese in January 1546. It houses the largest port in Latin America, supplying the São Paulo region and exporting the country’s agricultural products to the planet.
It was only after a 15-year-old started scoring goals for the City team that Santos, a city of around 430,000 today, became a household name. The Brazilian great, who died on Thursday aged 82 of cancer, played there from 1956 to 1974.
“There is a Santos before Pelé and another after him,” said Serginho Chulapa, a Brazilian striker at the 1982 World Cup and a local hero with more than 100 goals for the club. “He put both the city and the club on the map. Before him people came to work at the port and went to the beach.
Chulapa spent four spells at Santos FC as a player during the 1980s. Since retiring, he has worked at the club in a variety of roles, including alongside Pelé.
“Santos is not in a metropolis like São Paulo, we have to work with less money. And Pele has made this club gigantic since he started playing,” Chulapa said. “Santos had his peak with him.”
Pelé handed Santos two Copa Libertadores titles and two Intercontinental Cup titles against Benfica and AC Milan beating some of the best rivals in the world. The great Brazilian has won 26 titles in the club.
Some of Brazil’s greatest politicians, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have lived in the coastal city. But one of the main tourist attractions in Santos is the Pele Museum. It is located in the renovated neighborhood of Casaroes do Valongo, near the port of the city. It opened in 2014 and welcomes tens of thousands of tourists. Many like Gisela Claudia, 65, who arrived on a cruise ship to spend the New Year in the city.
“It’s my first time in Santos. And I only came on this cruise because my husband wanted to see the city of Pele,” said Claudia.
“It’s lost somewhere in the museum,” she said. “There are other beaches on this trip that are more beautiful than this one. But none of them have this history of the greatest player.
The museum displays some of Pele’s remaining memorabilia: boots, trophies, medals, T-shirts.
Santos has become a popular New Year’s Eve destination, especially among São Paulo locals, who have fallen in love with its clubs, beaches and some private islands where parties are held. But the local club’s Vila Belmiro stadium, where Pele’s funeral will take place on Monday, remains one of the city’s top tourist attractions.
Pelé, the mighty king of Brazilian soccer, has passed away. He was 82 years old.
The last time Santos regularly filled all 16,000 seats in their arena was between 2009 and 2013, when striker Neymar played there.
Santos FC is also home to other famous players, most of them coming from the youth academy long after Pelé’s retirement. The list includes Rodrygo, Elano, Zé Roberto, Giovanni, Robinho, Diego and Gabriel Barbosa.
Pele’s death should change many names around Santos. The first should be the port, which will be renamed King Pele Port, the new federal administration has decided.
Architect Maria Tereza Myre Dores, one of Pele’s closest friends and neighbors in the last years of her life in nearby Guaruja, says Santos the club and Santos the city will never be the same again.
“It was Santos. He loved the city, he loved the club. And he did both better and bigger,” said Myre Dores.
“I still remember the afternoons he spent in his office signing letters and T-shirts for people all over the world. One by one and sending them back, even those who came with only those three words; Pele, Santos, Brazil,” said the architect. “Without him, Santos is less Santos.”
___
