“I told you that I know Pele”

The coincidental photo in Paleo Faliro in 1961 and the new interaction in 1996

By Nick Naoum, Varsity Girls Soccer Coach

I was born in South Africa in December of 1958. My father was from Thessaloniki and had first immigrated to Brazil and later to Johannesburg. There he also met my mother, who was born in Istanbul and, at the age of 19, went to South Africa for an arranged marriage - not with my father. In the summer of 1961, my father brought me to Athens to introduce me to his parents, who lived in P. Faliro. After a few days, he left me with my grandparents and left for Istanbul, where my mother’s parents lived.

One morning my grandparents took me for a swim at Eden Beach. I really liked the sea and kicking a ball, and that’s exactly what I was doing when suddenly I saw in front of me a group of soccer players sitting at the beach and I immediately ran towards them. One of the people in the group took me in his arms, and someone else took a picture of us. When my father returned from Istanbul, my grandparents told him the story, commenting about the fact that “your son only hangs out with soccer players.” We had no idea who they were at that time.

A year later, while we were back in Johannesburg, an album titled “The Golden Legs” arrived at the city’s Greek bookstore, in which all the great football players of the time, Greek and foreign, were presented. Flipping through it, the bookseller, who was my father’s friend, suddenly sees a photo of me in Pele’s arms! As soon as he saw the photo, he immediately understood who the man was with whom I “made friends with” on that beach of P. Faliro. Having lived in Brazil, he knew very well who Pele was - who had then come to Greece with Santos for friendly matches with AEK, Olympiakos, and Panathinaikos.

The album became a family heirloom, and the story a family legend. In 1996, while we were already living in Athens, I heard that Pele was coming to give a press interview to Grande Bretagne Hotel as a representative of Mastercard. I decided to go find him, and show him the legendary photo. There was a large crowd and strong security measures at “G. Bretagne,” making it impossible for me to even go close to the building. I was holding the album with my finger on the photo page so I wouldn’t have to look at the last moment, and even though I explained to different security people what I wanted, they wouldn’t let me in.

However, at some point, I managed to find an empty spot in the hotel lobby; I was standing discreetly in a corner, and suddenly I heard, “he’s coming down, he’s coming down!” The whole crowd moved towards the elevators to see Pele, who, however, came out from the opposite side and went towards the interview room. “It’s now or never.” I thought and ran like crazy and finally reached him. “Give me five minutes,” I said and showed him the photo. I’m sure he didn’t remember it, but he smiled, and I told him to take another photo. I put my hand around his shoulders and gave my camera to one guy from the crowd, who had started to gather around us, and that’s how my second photo with Pele became a reality! Then one of the security men came as they didn’t let me pass before, and I smiled happily at him. “I told you I knew Pele, but you didn’t believe me. See, I was telling the truth!”