HAMILTON, Bermuda, CMC – Three Bermuda legends, Clyde Best, Sam Nusum and Randy Horton, have paid tribute to Pele, describing football’s first superstar, who has died at the age of 82 in his native Brazil, as a “humble” person, having played with and against him.
Pele signed to play for New York Cosmos at Bermuda’s Hamilton Princess Hotel in 1975 and Best got to play against him first while on a tour of the United States with his English club West Ham United and again when playing in the North American Soccer League with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Portland Timbers.
“Knowing him as a friend and as a person, he was just a fantastic human being as well as a great footballer and it’s sad that he has passed on,” former striker Best, 71, told the Royal Gazette newspaper.
“We’re all going to miss him because he was one in a million. There will never be another Pelé and for me he is the best player ever. He will be sorely missed.”
Pele died on Thursday at the age of 82.
Recalling one memorable game in the US, former striker Best said: “I was playing for West Ham and we came over from England to play his club Santos at the time. He was always my hero and to play against Pele the first time at Randall’s Island in New York was unbelievable because it was someone I had always looked up to and tried to emulate.”
That exhibition game ended in a 2-2 draw with Pele and Best each bagging a brace.
“What I always remember about that particular game is that he scored two goals and I scored two goals and after the game he came to me and said, ‘Clyde, I am the king and you are the prince’, and to hear that from Pele was unbelievable.”
After that game, the pair crossed swords on a number of occasions with Best always keen to impress the great Brazilian.
“He knew what I could do and I always made it a point that whenever I played against Pelé I was going to score goals because I wanted him to see how I had developed from the first time he played against me,” Best said.
“The second game I played against him when he was at Cosmos, I scored a hat-trick. Whenever Pele was there that gave me an extra incentive to show him what I can do. He brought the best out of me.”
Best was also invited to play alongside Pele with Cosmos on a world tour.
“They invited me to come and play for them which was a great experience,” he recalled.
“Having played against him many times in the North American Soccer League and going on a world tour with him I got to know him pretty well. He was a nice man. He always shared and was just a humble person who loved the game and deserved everything that came to him.”
Goalkeeper Nusum, 79, played alongside Pele at Cosmos and against him with rivals Vancouver Whitecaps.
While a huge fan of the late legend’s extraordinary talents on the pitch, it was the influence that he had on people and the game in the United States that struck him most, he told the Gazette.
“The effect that he had on football in the United States and to be there and watch it was probably one of the biggest honours and thrills of my life, plus he was my idol,” Nusum said.
“I could not have been there in a better year to understand just how big he was to the sport. He was a great player but for me it’s the impact he had on the game and everywhere we went. When I joined New York, you only had 5,000 people at a game and when he signed we sold out every time.
“Then whenever we went to play teams away, their crowd increased by four or five times as many people. That’s what made the biggest impact on me; the effect he had on other people and not just being a great player.
“Everybody wanted to see him so the crowds were bigger. In fact, the first game everybody we played at Randall’s Island, we had get off the bus at the Triborough Bridge to get to the stadium. That was the only way we could get there on time because everybody wanted to see him.”
Pelé joined Cosmos the year after Bermudian forward Horton was traded from the club to rivals Washington Diplomats.
“Pele came to the Cosmos just as I was leaving and I always tell people Cosmos could not afford Randy Horton and Pele,” Horton, 77, said.
“The first time I played against him with the Washington Diplomats was in DC and that was an amazing experience just being on the field with him. Then towards the end of his career I played with him actually.
“It was former Cosmos against the present Cosmos and it was just great being in his company and, even though he was past his prime, just seeing the way he moved around the field was amazing.
“In my view he’s the best footballer ever. Pele had every skill, the ability to be able to shoot with both feet, dribbling skills and heading ability. He may have only been 5ft 8in but he could get up in the air as if he was 6ft 5in. His technique in heading was just amazing as well as his vision to see spaces and be able to find the gaps and make the correct passes. The guy was just incomparable.”
Horton added: “He was a wonderful person and how humble he was I think was more important than anything else.”
