Jimmy Magee, an Irish priest & the boy they'd call Pele

Jimmy Magee released a book four years ago entitled, 'Different Class'.

In it, the legendary broadcaster reflected on the sportspeople he'd witnessed during his decades-long career who inhibited a higher plane, rose above mere excellence to become greats of their field.

There was Muhammad Ali - "the best" - Eddy Merckx, the superhuman Belgian cyclist, Diego Maradona - the Argentinian maverick whose genius against England inspired Magee's famous commentary at the 1986 World Cup - and our own heroes, Brian O'Driscoll, Sonia O'Sullivan and Katie Taylor.

And there was Pele.

Magee met the iconic Brazilian several times down the years, but in their first encounter, at the 1974 World Cup, he posed the simplest of questions: why do they call you Pele?

Speaking to The John Murray Show with Miriam O'Callaghan in October 2013, Magee detailed the story.

"I met him first in Brazil, where a friend of mine had a television programme and he organised for Pele to come in to me when I was visiting Sao Paolo," he said.

"'And all the women said, 'peile! Aww peile! And ever since that they called you Pele. Now isn't that plausible?' I said to him. And he said, 'yeah!'."

"He loved talking about football; he was like a child. I asked him what his name meant. 'Pele, what is it, this nickame?' Because his name was Edson Arantes do Nascimento.

"'What does Pele mean? Is it a flower, is it something you did as a baby?'

"He said, 'no, it means nothing. I don't know what it means but I used to fight with boys at school if they called me it'.

"I said, 'I have an idea why they called you Pele'.

"And I gave him this kind of cock and bull story.

"I said: 'An Irish priest, a missionary priest was in Brazil, in a part where you were born and raised, and you were