25 Photos of Pelé Meeting Everybody Worth Meeting

Impact

June 12, 2014

Edson Arantes do Nascimento — better known as Pelé — knows a little something about the weight of expectations. He was 9 when Uruguay defeated Brazil in the final match of the 1950 World Cup before a reported crowd of 200,000 at the Estádio do Maracanã, an upset that defined a nation's identity for most of the next decade. Not until Pelé came of age, leading Brazil to World Cups in 1958, '62 and '70, was the ghost of the Maracanazo finally laid to rest.

Since then, the Pelé legend has only grown, and a look at the company he's kept over the past half-century traces a unique path through world culture over the past half-century.