Pelé welcomed home by 230,000 in 24-hour funeral

SANTOS, Brazil — At 3:57 Monday morning, the Vila Belmiro neighborhood of Santos began to glow.

A swooping helicopter shined its spotlight from a black sky. Firecrackers exploded in neon reds and blistering whites. Lamps in bedrooms flipped on, almost in unison, and more than a few heads poked out the windows of the line of squat, flat-roofed houses.

On the corner, seven helmeted policemen stood stout in front of the old soccer stadium. They were starkly still amid the racket of the fireworks’ pop-pop-pop, save for one officer who shouted a single word into the walkie-talkie pinned to his shoulder: “Chegando! Chegando!”

Arriving.

It was Pelé. A line of vehicles turned onto Rua Princesa Isabel. There was a white police cruiser and a motorcycle. An SUV and another bike. A white passenger van followed by a black Chevy Tahoe. Then, slowly, came the black Mercedes hearse.

An old man watched by the curb. His name is Alemão, and he owns the bar just 25 paces from the stadium gates. He has a tattoo of the club’s crest in the middle of his forehead.

Pelé was Alemão’s friend. Pelé would come to his bar, as a player and in retirement, to talk football. To drink guarana. To get his haircut from Didi, the barber next door whose shop sign says, “Pelé’s hairdresser — and yours, too.”

Alemão needed to be there on Monday, even if it was before dawn. He needed to see. He watched Pelé’s hearse go past and make a left down the side of the stadium. He watched Pelé’s hearse turn right into the stadium’s belly. He nodded and rubbed his hands together as Pelé went. He whispered, “Seu casa,” under his breath. His house.

Pelé played in Vila Belmiro, won in Vila Belmiro, became one of the best-known athletes in history in Vila Belmiro. Then, somehow, he grew even larger, going all over the globe to spread the message of the sport he loved. He died from complications…