Losing soccer great Pele right after a terrific World Cup seems almost fitting. During the entire run of the tournament, Pele was constantly remembered and not just because he was in poor health. He is that important to soccer and international sports. The torch seems to have passed and he never seemed to mind that there would be greats following in his footsteps.

Writers and colleagues with stronger connections will be penning great accounts of what he accomplished. I lack the context to do him justice. However, I’ll suggest he was a dual threat. He was class personified and a really cool dude.

I hope that more contemporary athletes would take a page out of his book and choose grace over boorishness.