Pete Rozelle

He retired as commissioner in 1989 and died at the age of 70 in 1996 in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Tarcisio Burgnich, the famous Italian defender who marked Pelé in the 1970 World Cup Finals: "I told myself before the game, 'he's made of skin and bones just like everyone else' - but I was wrong". Under Rozelle the NFL thrived and had become an American icon, despite two players' strikes and two different upstart leagues. Pelé has published several best-selling autobiographies, starred in documentary and semi-documentary films and composed various musical pieces, including the entire soundtrack for the film 'Pelé' in 1977. Monday Night Football was a staple of American television viewing, and the Super Bowl was the single most watched event of the year. Pelé was one of the first black people to be featured on the cover of Life Magazine. The 1980's saw drug scandals and further struggle with powerful owners over team movement. After winning his second World Cup in 1962, wealthy European clubs offered massive fees to sign the young player, but the government of Brazil declared Pelé an official national treasure to prevent him from being transferred out of the country.

The 1970's were a decade of league expansion and litigation over issues such as the NFL Players Association and team movement to new markets. Pelé is the first sports figure featured on a video game with the Atari 2600 game Pelé's Soccer. Following the urging of American Football League commissioner Al Davis, Rozelle also agreed to the creation of the Super Bowl and later supported the concept of Monday Night Football. In 1970, the two factions involved in a civil war in Nigeria agreed for a 48-hour ceasefire so they could watch Pelé play an exhibition game in Lagos. In October, 1966, he testified to Congress to convince them to allow the merger, promising that if they permitted it, "Professional football operations will be preserved in the 23 cities and 25 stadiums where such operations are presently being conducted."; and "Every franchise of both leagues will remain in its present location." The merger was allowed, but regardless of the promises, numerous NFL teams have since moved, or used the threat of moving to have cities build or improve stadiums. Pelé is a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. With American Football League Commissioner Al Davis and other AFL and NFL executives, he negotiated the merger between the American Football League and the NFL.
In the same year, Pelé received the Laureus World Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement Award from South African President Nelson Mandela.

However, he didn't cite Rozelle's decision, he cited that the events were so deadly and security concerns.) Rozelles's "aptitude for conciliation" with the league's owners, however, led to his receiving Sports Illustrated magazine's 1963 "Sportsman of the Year" award. (For details of the controversial process, see Sports Illustrated Article). They agreed to go on with the games, citing two things: football was Kennedy's sport and that it was a "tradition in sports for all to perform in times of great personal tragedy." (Rozelle's successor, Paul Tagliabue, following the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001, ordered all games cancelled the weekend afterward. In December 2000, Pelé was named Footballer of the Century by a "Family of Football" committee appointed by FIFA, after a web poll favored Diego Maradona. However, Rozelle and then-White House Press Secretary Pierre Salinger had been classmates at the University of San Francisco years before, and Rozelle consulted with him. He was voted athlete of the century by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1999. Rozelle rued his decision to have the NFL play, and frequently stated publicly that it had been his worst mistake. In 1995, he was appointed an Ambassador for UNESCO at the Goodwill Games.

In November 1963 the NFL played its full schedule of games (untelevised due to uninterrupted coverage of the assassination), only two days after JFK's assassination, while the rival American Football League (AFL) postponed its games out of respect for the fallen president. In 1992, Pelé was appointed a United Nations Ambassador for Ecology and the Environment. His business model was essentially a cartel that benefited all teams equally, from revenue sharing to the player draft. In 1997, he was given an honorary British knighthood. He got NFL team owners to agree to share revenues between teams, as the American Football League had done since its inception. He was awarded Brazil's Gold Medal for outstanding services to the sport, before becoming Sports Minister in 1994. Following the lead of the rival American Football League, he negotiated large television contracts to broadcast every NFL game played each season. In his 92 appearances for the Brazilian team, he scored 77 goals.

The NFL in 1960 was following a business model that had evolved from the 1930's. He ended his career with a total of 1281 goals in 1363 matches, becoming the highest goalscorer in professional football ever. When he took office in 1960, there were ten teams in the NFL playing a twelve game schedule to frequently half empty stadiums and were seldom on TV; by the time he resigned, that number had grown to twenty-eight. Pelé is in third place in the list of all-time top goalscorers in World Cup play, with 12 goals, and he is the only player who won three World Cups with his team. After Bert Bell's death in 1959, Rozelle was the surprise choice for his replacement as NFL commissioner. Nascimento, 35, was arrested along with some 50 other people after an eight-month investigation into a cocaine trafficking operation in the port city of Santos. He turned a disorganized, unprofitable team, lost in the growing LA market, into a business success. In 2005, Pelé drew international media attention due to the imprisonment of Edson Cholbi Nascimento, his son, who was arrested in an operation to dismantle a drug gang in southeastern Brazil.

By 1957, Rozelle was offered the GM job with the Rams. Pelé is certainly one of the most famous men in football, with his nickname being recognized even by those unfamiliar with the sport. He joined the Los Angeles Rams as its public relations specialist. Pelé is a long-standing contributor for children's rights at UNICEF and acts as the figurehead of a charity for erectile dysfunction. He held a series of public relations jobs in Southern California, marketing the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne Australia for an LA based company. In 1995, President Cardoso appointed Pelé to the position of Minister of Sports. He graduated from USF that year. He also played in a friendly match with the Lebanese club Nejmeh in 1974 (see Football in Lebanon).

He had already worked in public relations for the LA Rams front office and while in the athletic office at USF he marketed the Don's national championship basketball season of 1949 into a national media event. The exhibition game was sold out six weeks beforehand. Rozelle began his career at the University of San Francisco, working as a student publicist for the school's football team. He played his last game as a professional on October 1, 1977 in front of a capacity crowd at Giants Stadium against his old club, Santos; he played the first half with the Cosmos and the second half with Santos. He was drafted into the Navy in 1944 and served 18 months in the Pacific on an oil tanker. After his retirement from Brazilian football on October 3, 1974, he joined the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League. He graduated from Compton High School in 1944, lettering in baseball and basketball. His unrivalled talent in by far the world's most popular sport has led many to consider him to have been the finest sportsman in the history of the world.

Rozelle grew up in suburban Compton, California during the Great Depression. His immense haul of over twelve hundred career goals in all competitions has not even come close to being matched by any other man in the history of the professional game. Rozelle is credited with making the NFL into arguably the most successful sports league in the world. Pelé's sublime technique and deft touch combined with his phenomenal dribbling skills and incredible scoring ability cannot be overstated. Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle (March 1, 1926–December 6, 1996) was the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office. Brazil defeated Italy 4-1 in the final, with Pelé scoring one and gloriously setting up Jairzinho for another in what some still consider to be the finest ever world cup. The 1970 team, featuring famous players like Rivelino, Jairzinho, and Tostão, is often considered to be the greatest team ever.

Although his contributions were limited in the 1962 and 1966 campaigns because of injuries inflicted by the dirty play of opposition players, the 1970 tournament in Mexico was to be Pelé's last. He played in three more Brazilian world cup teams in 1962, 1966 and 1970, two of which Brazil won (1962 and 1970). In 1958, Pelé became the youngest ever World Cup winner in Sweden at 17, scoring two goals in the final as Brazil crushed Sweden 5-2 in Stockholm. Just ten months after signing professionally, the teenager was called up to the Brazilian national team.

When the new season started, Pelé was given a starting place in the first team and, at the age of just sixteen, became the top scorer in the league. Pelé was offered professional terms and scored four goals in his first league game. De Brito told the directors at Santos that the fifteen year old would be "the greatest football player in the world". In 1956, Pele's mentor took him to the city of São Paulo, to try out for professional club Santos.

At the age of eleven, Pelé was scouted by Brazilian legend Waldemar de Brito and was invited to join de Brito's amateur team, Clube Atlético Bauru. He was given his first leather ball on his sixth birthday by his father's teammate, Sosa. Growing up in poverty on the streets of Bauru, he could not afford a football and usually played with either a sock stuffed with papers or a grapefruit. Later in life, when reflecting that the world came to know the name, he stated his belief that it was chosen for him by God.

He originally disliked the nickname, but the more he complained the more he was called by it. He was named after American inventor Thomas Edison, and did not receive the nickname "Pelé" until his school days. Edson was born in Três Corações, Minas Gerais, Brazil, the son of Fluminense footballer João Ramos do Nascimento, also known as Dondinho. .

Since his full retirement in 1977 he has served as an ambassador for the sport. Over the course of his career, Pelé scored over a thousand goals and won three world cups. Technically outstanding, he also became famed for his lightning speed and his strength on the ball. He was often considered to be the complete footballer, as he was completely two-footed, a prolific finisher, exceptional at dribbling and passing, and was a remarkably good tackler for a forward.

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, KBE (born October 23, 1940), nicknamed Pelé, a Brazilian, is a former football player and thought by many to be the finest player of all time.