José Fornos Rodrigues, aka Pepito, 79, doesn’t remember the year. It was in the early 1980s. That’s for sure. Pelé’s mansion in Guarujá (São Paulo coast) was full of people. The Football King appeared dressed in red pants and a blue shirt. It caused a sensation.
Cheerful, he pretended to parade near the pool and was praised for his clothing. He was applauded. This lasted until he approached Pepito.
“So, what do you think?”
“You look ridiculous. You look like a macaw.”
From Pelé’s indignant reaction to the comment came the phrase that defined the 50-year relationship between the two.
“I tell you what you need, not what you like to hear.”
The friendship will continue, he says, but the five-decade professional bond ended earlier this month. Pepito, Pele’s faithful squire and an almost omnipresent figure alongside the former player, decided it was time to step away.
It made no sense to continue. Pele, 81, has mobility problems, as a result of a hip transplant and a knee injury. He also undergoes chemotherapy sessions to treat colon tumor. The trips in which the two traveled the world side by side are in the past. Priorities are different.
“As he has these mobility limitations, he can’t travel, he can’t leave the house, I can’t contribute or add anything. He needs a doctor, nurse, caregiver. He can’t do what he used to do. Whenever I can, I pay a little visit there , I talk a lot of nonsense and we laugh. But we can’t do what we used to do before”, he explains.
Pepito’s association with Pelé officially began in 1971. It was when, in his own words, the King of Football “bought his pass” from Varig, where he worked as a sales promoter.
They had met sporadically since 1962 because they had a mutual friend. From 1968, the contact became stronger because Pepito was hired by the airline to get the account of Santos, the best-known club in the country, which traveled for most of the year and, of course, had the greatest player in the world.
The mission was so successful that the promoter began flying the roster of players as if he were one of them. The friendship intensified so much that when he had to go to business commitments, Pele would call him to accompany him, so he wouldn’t be alone. It was a scene that was repeated for decades to come.
In meetings with kings, presidents, ministers or other celebrities, someone used to appear to stop Pepito. The event would be exclusive and for few. That’s when Pele made it clear. If his right arm didn’t go in, he wouldn’t go in either.
“Of course I knew where I belonged. Pelé wanted my presence because our relationship was to be understood by looking at it. I stayed away, I usually positioned myself where the press was and gave him one signal or another. years of fame, he was a little tense when he had those 500 journalists in the room”, he confesses.
Among the advisor’s memories is the period when he interrupted his association with the player. He got married and went to live in Bahia. It didn’t last. When he broke up, he was called back by Pelé, who greeted him with a “See? Your business is to stay here with me”.
“Never [poderia imaginar que a ligação duraria tanto tempo]. I am very attached to the things I do. My friends are the usual ones, I’m not one to jump from branch to branch. If I’m good in a place, I dedicate myself. I could never have imagined that I would get where it is.”
Pepito sometimes had to play the role of the bore. She was the one who warned him that it was time to go somewhere and get out of where he was. He did this so his famous friend wouldn’t have to go through the pain of turning down a fan or journalist.
In recent years, at any bump in Pele’s health, reporters would call him. He always had a ready answer.
“Pelé is fine. He just won’t be able to play on the weekend.”
The phrase, in a way, was incorporated by shirt 10. When interviewed by Folha, at the end of 2018, he said that he planned to go to the World Cup in Qatar, but it would be his last: “After that, I already told Tite not summon me anymore.”
It was Pepito that Pelé appealed to for various requests, from the most important to the most banal. How to buy Dutch-style berets, which the advisor found in Holambra (inland) and took to São Paulo.
The agreement between the two ended the link between Montague, a company whose capital was the player’s brand and which was originally called Pelé Comércio Empreendimentos e Participações, and DSL, Pepito’s company. Catholic, makes a point of remembering that the acronym stands for “God Be Praised”.
The professional connection no longer exists, but if he needs it, Pele knows where to find someone to put his feet back on the ground. As happened in 1999, when he considered running for president of Santos. Someone had to tell him this was crazy. Without looking at his friend, but beside him, Pepito spoke to the mother of the King of Football:
“Look, Dona Celeste, your son sometimes starts to float and we have to pick him up by the foot to bring him to the ground.”
Pele thought for a few seconds and realized.
“You are my balance anyway.”
It has been that way for the last 50 years.
“Pepito and Pele are united forever. He’s a great brother I’ve found in my life”, he confesses.
This despite the fact that José Fornos Rodrigues is Corinthians.
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