On the day when the city of Santos and the world sent the great Pele on his last journey, several stories in the Brazilian media touched with their truth, humanity and sense of personal experience.
Today, the football king will be cremated in the presence of the closest people, and the urn with his ashes will be placed on the ninth floor of the highest vertical grave on the planet – the Ecumenical Memorial Necropole, located in the city.
It was here, in Santos, that Pelé rose to fame in the football world. And the local team’s white jersey has become a global sporting icon. And right here, on the ninth floor and “overlooking the pitch” of the Villa Belmiro stadium. According to Edson Arantes do Nascimento’s family, this was one of his last wishes before his death on December 29.
The ninth floor was chosen because the urn with the name of Dodinho, Pele’s father, rests there. He played number 9 at Santos while his son wore number 10. And that’s why he’s buried on this floor, and before his death, the legendary Edson wanted to be next to his father when he left this world.
The stories of the people of the city, who have been flocking to the stadium for 48 hours, have brought the tape back to the times of the 50s, 60s and 70s, when little Santos was talked about.
“It was all for us,” said Renato do Santo, 68, a bus driver who used to live in the city and who traveled four hours from where his home now stands on Dec. 31 to bow before the king. this is Brazil. He saved our country in its darkest hour. I lived not far from the neighborhood where his home was. How many times have I seen him on the street, stopping to talk to the children. He was one of us, he was never a star. And the God of football.
Onofra Rovai, 91, has become one of the images of mourning surrounding Pele’s death. The old woman was sitting in front of the open window of her apartment on the second floor of the building on the corner facing the stadium.
So close that if you threw a rock through its window, it probably would have hit the front of the arena. But Onofra, clad in a Santos dress and photographed by nearly every camera and lens for the past few days, hasn’t left her home. You did not cross the road and went to the park of “Villa Belmiro” to bow before Pelé’s coffin.
“I don’t have the strength to do it. I just can’t – the woman told local media “Folia de Sao Paulo”. – For me he is not dead. He is eternal. Edson is a saint, he is our leader, king and idol I’ve talked to him hundreds of times, we lived here for 50 years when he was still playing for Santos.
He always left on foot after a game, often stopping under our window. Dad went to the stadium, but my mother and I didn’t go to the games, we just opened the windows and listened to the crowd. Pelé would stop, smile and tell us how the goals were scored, who did what. Mom and Dad were crazy about him and Santos.
I will never accept that he is dead. That’s why I didn’t go out and cross that street.”
On crutches and barely able to walk, Marcolino Olimpio de Oliveira, 62, a popular local artist, arrives at the stadium entrance. They lead the way for him, and he exclaims, “I told you I was coming!”
Marco – as he is known in the city, is one of the great friends of Pelé and his son Edinho. He has huge health problems and has just left his home in one of the suburbs of São Paulo, where he moved years ago. He grew up in Santos and his graffiti of Pele kissing the World Cup hasn’t yet been erased or plastered on one of the city’s tallest buildings. A was painted two decades ago.
“Pele is eternal. Well, there is nothing else. He has given people so much joy that his works will be remembered in a century,” says the smiling artist.
In fact, it paraphrases one of the greatest phrases ever spoken about the king of football – from American cinema and pop culture legend Andy Warhol.
He said years ago:
“Pele debunks one of the most repeated theories of our time. Instead of the 15 minutes of fame we all talk about, he will have fame for the next 15 centuries.”
The city of Santos bids a final farewell to the man who made him famous throughout the world
Photo: Getty Images
