The Magic of Pelé

Darryl HeronJune 16, 2014

This presentation is based on a speech that I did about Pelé at my Toastmasters club.

It was part of a “World Cup Fever” themed evening.

I thought that I’d share it with you

What would soccer (or football) be without Pelé?

Before people would bend it…like Beckham

or people were crazy about Ronaldo…

there was Pelé.

Some people call Pelé the greatest player of all time

Others look at his wizardry on the field and all that he has accomplished as a way that might take them our of poverty And into greatness

Still other see him as a soccer ambassador

Pelé is one of those athletes the world had turned into a hero,And our world needs more heroes today!

Imagine…• winning the World Cup THREE TIMES! 1958, 1962, & 1970! (and playing in a 4th)• Scoring 12 goals in the World Cup• Scoring 77 with the Brazilian national team• *Scoring more that 1200 goals in 1300+ games• Imagine the excitement of playing on the national team at 16

Pelé had done all these things. Pelé is so much more than Number and statistics!

German soccer great, Franz Beckenbauer thought that, Pelé is the greatest player of all time.

Henry Kissinger said, "Performance at a high level in any sport is to exceed the ordinary human scale. But Pelé's performance transcended that of the ordinary star by as much as the star exceeds ordinary performance."

Don’t we all just love watching someone doing something they were born to do? Something that they put their heart and soul into!

Every sport has its legends, there is no doubt that Pelé is one in soccer. He is also one of those athletes that the world knows by a single name.

Former Brazilian Ambassador to the U.N. Pinheiro said "Pelé played football for 22 years, and in that time he did more to promote world friendship and fraternity than any other ambassador anywhere.”

Pelé played for the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 70s and did quite a bit to promote soccer in America.

In fact, being born too late to watch his performances in the World Cup, I knew who he was (even living in America)

Imagine going to the White House, this man introduces himself as says “you don’t need to introduce yourself, because everyone knows who Pelé is.”

Andy Warhol said thought that Pelé was one of the few people that contradicted his “famous for 15 minutes theory” that he will be famous for 15 centuries.

How cool is it to have a stamp issued in your home country!

How many boys and girls started playing soccer Or were motivated to play because Pelé played?

Children from around the world, many growing up in awful conditions, saw Pelé as a hero and a way of breaking free fromtheir lives.

You can’t put a price on this kind of admiration and inspiration!

When Pelé played, anything was possible. Imagine watching him play. Imagine him shooting, and the announcer yells. Goooooooaaaallll!

People like Pelé makes sports fun for the casual fan and for the people that are looking for something positive to lift their spirits.

For 90 minutes, we forgot our troubles and believed that anything was possible. At a time when so much is wrong, we can user more heroes like Pelé today working their magic to motivate our kids and us adults too. Why not share the motivation and inspiration with someone in need of it! Share the magic.

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