Non-Football Facts About Pele (ii)
His first nickname was Dico coined by his uncle. Dico is still how his mother refers to him. At some point, he was called Gasolina but the whole world knows him as Pele. The name, Pele bugged really bugged him at first. He was really proud that he was named after Thomas Edison and wanted to be called Edson. He thought the name Pele sounded horrible. It was a rubbish name he said. Edson sounded so much more serious and important. So when someone said, Hey Pele; he would shout back and get angry. On one occasion he punched a classmate because of it and earned a two day suspension. This predictably did not have the desired effect. Other kids realized it annoyed me and so they started calling me Pele even more. Then he realized it wasn’t up to him what he was called. Now he loves the name-but back then, it wound him up no end.
It was Zinho, one of his friends who persuaded him to go with him to the red-light district for his sexual experience. He was fourteen. Zinho told him how wonderful it would be but all he could think about was the worry of catching a venereal disease
As a fifteen (15) year old, he fancied himself as a bit of a ladies’ man and he spent considerable time chasing girls, he had a few little romances, childish crushes that everyone goes through. Sadly, his first direct experience with racism was when the father of a girl he dated came to school and harangued her daughter for hanging out with him in the presence of students and staff. What are you doing with this negrinho? He yelled. Pele was completely shocked. His girlfriend was white but it just hadn’t occurred to him that someone might have a problem with that or him. Pele was so pained by that experience that he ran home and cried his eyes out. The girl never spoke to me again. Other girls he dated included Ivone,Neuzinha,Samira-they all had a special place in my young heart, especially Neuzinha who was the sister of a Japanese friend. He used to go the cinema a lot, watching carefully to see which of the girls was without a boyfriend.
For the first fifteen (15) years of his life he wore only shorts. His mother got two (2) pairs of trousers for him when he was leaving for the Sao Paulo State. When he arrived at Sao Paulo the first thing he did was to go and see the sea, and walk along the beach. When he stepped on to the beach he reached down to feel the sand in his hands and he tasted a little of the water. His teacher had always told him that it was salty, though he didn’t believe her. He was delighted by how vast the Atlantic Ocean was.
As a child who had wanted to be a pilot. On 24 May 1958, he finally walked up the steps into travel by air. It was a DC7-C, belonging to Panair do Brazil. I t was a twelve-hour flight to Lisbon, Portugal.
He underwent a one year compulsory military service for all Brazilians who are eighteen (18) year old in 1958.
In late 1958, he met Rosemeri Cholbi. They courted for eight (8) years before getting married in 1966.Their courtship was a very long and drawn out affair. No one in Rose’s family wanted the press to hear about the relationship. They went for their honeymoon in Europe, specifically in Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria where a second wedding ceremony was conducted by the mayor of Vienna. Finally, they had a trip to Italy where they were received at the Vatican by Pope VI.
One of his weaknesses his putting too much trust in people. Just after he got married, he realized that man he gave the power of attorney over his business affairs had mismanaged it and almost crumbled it close to liquidation. Creditors came knocking on his door for repayment of debts owed. The man who put a dent on his finances was his best man at his wedding. His wife had earlier told him the she had the intuition that the man was diverting his funds but he dismissed it as the naggings typical of women.
In January 1967, Pele had his first child with Rosemeri, a beautiful baby girl the couple named Kelly Cristina. It is noteworthy to state here that the Kelly wasn’t Pele’s first child as he had a fling with Anisia Machado, a household maid while courting Rosemeri which led to the birth of a daughter named;Sandra Regina Machado in 1964.Remember he got married to Rosemeri in 1966.When Anisia first brought Sandra to meet Pele by which time he was already married to Rosemeri, he vehemently denied it because, according to Pele, they had sex only once. In order to resolve the quagmire, a court mandated the carrying out of a DNA TEST which established the paternity of Sandra as Pele. The court would also rule that Sandra could use Pele’s surname:Nascimento. But the story didn’t end there. Sandra would later a write a book titled: THE DAUGHTER THE KING DIDN’T WANT when she reached adulthood which Pele found hurtful.
Pele did not appear to have learnt his lessons as he was entangled in an extra-marital affair in 1968 with a journalist called Lenita Kurtz. This affair led to the birth of a daughter; Flavia Christina Kurtz, although this time there was no legal cum medical case involved.
His first son as well as second child with Rosemeri was born on 27 August 1970.They named him; Edson Cholbi do Nascimento later nicknamed Edinho, remember Brazil is a country of nicknames.
In 1978, Pele and Rosemeri had their third and last child with the arrival of Jennifer. Unfortunately, Pele was away in Argentina at that time, he had been offered a television contract but when he returned from Argentina, however, it was clear that his absence had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. She was very upset that he couldn’t be there with her at the birth. And so in the week of Jennifer’s birth, after twelve years of marriage, they officially announced their separation. They were divorced in the Dominican Republic, but he has never stopped taking care of anything Rosemeri wanted. Some years later, much to Pele’s sadness, Rosemeri decided she wanted to publish a book about their relationship, despite the protests of their three children and Pele’s. Pele recalled that separating from Rosemeri was one of the most difficult moments of his life because he really missed not spending time with his kids.
After recovering a bit from his marital woes, he signed a ten year contract with Warner Communications based in New York, United States of America to do promotional and other work. Being in New York and being single again, created another distraction. He still had some of the hormones that drove him crazy as a boy. There were many girlfriends and parties. Another infamous relationship he had after his divorce with Rosemeri was with Maria da Graca Meneghel, a beautiful blonde model of German ancestry known as Xuxa. Pele first met her when she was sixteen years old. He was doing a photo shoot in Rio de Janeiro for the magazine Manchete-in which Pele appeared with her and two other models. Pele invited her to see a concert, but because she was so young he had to ask for her father’s permission. I invited her as a friend, but she eventually became more than that, Pele stated. Xuxa would describe their relationship as colourful. He assisted Xuxa’s career get off the ground by introducing her to some of his friends who made films that were seen in those days as quite spicy. She landed the lead role in one of them and this led to an invitation to pose for Playboy magazine. They were together for six years, but Pele would say that it wasn’t a very intense relationship-it was more of a friendship. He lived in New York and she was in Brazil. He dated a couple of beauty queens- Deise Nunes de Souza, who he went out with in 1986 and Flavia Calvacanti who he saw around the end of 1989. Both had been crowned Miss Brazil.
SOURCE: Pele: The Autobiography, 2006
Good job bro