This story is about the man who was, at the time, considered the first playboy soccer player (in the literal sense of the word) in Latin America.
The idea of associating an athlete, but especially a soccer player, to the world of show business, vedettes, singers and jet-setters in general, is relatively recent.
Today I am going to tell you the story, which is not eccentric but interesting because we are talking about the 1940s.
Lawyer, millionaire, womanizer and prone to excesses, the Brazilian Heleno de Freitas was one of the great stars of the forties.
An undisputed idol at Botafogo and Junior de Barranquilla, he also had a brief stint at Boca.
The end of his life was a corollary of all his excesses: a neurosyphilis killed him at the age of 39.
Over the years some compared him to Pelé himself.
Heleno de Freitas, or simply Heleno as he was known to the Brazilian torcida, was capable of anything. The day after a night with all the excesses he could score goals and create the best plays. He smoked a lot, he had problems with drugs, he was capable of losing in a casino night four salaries together. He had no limits. Neither in his sporting life, nor in his private life. Womanizer and alcoholic; lawyer and polyglot. Irreverent and quarrelsome. In life and on the court.
But he was also capable of frequenting and reading the intellectuals of the time. A truly atypical case. He was the prototype of the bohemian. He despised rules and techniques. In him everything was creation, intuition. At supersonic speed. All in one person.
He was, yes, a champion without titles, but -at the same time- by irony of destiny one of the most amazing cracks in history.
The writer Antonio Falcao once told an anecdote: "Prancha - a bit of a coach, a bit of a philosopher - captured the young promises in a novel way: he threw a fruit at each child, watched how he caught it and determined whether he was a star or a starlet. Heleno de Freitas, a 12-year-old mineiro, cushioned the orange on his thigh, dropped it on his foot, juggled, lifted it to his head, brought it back to his foot, passing through a cue check."
Eduardo Galeano himself told it in a handful of words, "He had the stamp of a gypsy, the face of Rudolph Valentino and the humor of a mad dog. On the field, he shone".
Even his origin was different. He didn't come from the squalid favelas of the Rio de Janeiro suburbs. He came from a wealthy and distinguished family.
He was married to the daughter of a diplomat and had a son, Luiz Eduardo. And a thousand extramarital affairs. A thousand extramarital affairs were also reported.
In Barranquilla he was the first great sports idol the city had. The first soccer player who was forgiven even for bad matches and excesses in his private life.
In Argentina he played little and not so well. He played in Boca 17 games and scored 7 goals. He never managed to adapt to the new environment.
Some people say that, as he always played with his hair always in his hair always in place and very neat, Boca fans could not stand him and shouted at him: "Come on, Heleno, nod your head, you won't get your hair out of your hair".
They said he had lost glamour and beauty.
He lived as he wanted and as he could. He paid for his excess with interest and surcharges. Neurosyphilis was detected and he was committed to an asylum in Barbacena, in Minas Gerais. Death found him quickly. He was alone. At the age of 39, in November 1959, he died.
643.676 SRY