Michael Jordan, a basketball superstar, happens to be one of the most popular, successful and wealthiest athletes in professional, college and Olympic sports history.

Childhood

Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York on 17th February, 1963. He was one of the five children to Deloris and James Jordan. At the time when Michael was very young, the family migrated to Wilmington, where his father worked as a supervisor at the General Electric Plant, whereas his mother worked at a bank. His parents taught him to lead a respectable life since childhood. Although being good at sports, as a sophomore, Michael could not make it to the school basketball team. He later made it to the team after a year and won a basketball scholarship in the University of North Carolina. Dean Smith coached him at the University. After his session at the University, he was named the “college player” for two consecutive years by the “Sporting News”. After the junior years, he left North Carolina and was picked by the Chicago Bulls of NBA (National Basketball Association).

Early Years

At the time when Michael Jordan joined Chicago Bulls, they had only 6000 fans for the home game and were a losing side quite often. However, with his competitive spirit and style of play, he turned the tables for Chicago Bulls. He gained a lot of popularity amongst the fans for his hang time and leaping ability. He was honored as the “Rookie” of the league and was also called to the “All-Star” team. During this time, he was sidelined for 64 games because of a broken foot, however when he returned, he set a NBA playoff record of 63 points.

The next season during 1986-87 happened to be one of the most successful years in Jordan’s career. He received 1.5 million votes and started playing the “All-Star” game. After Wilt Chamberlain, he became the only player to score 3000 points in one single season. In 1988, Jordan started concentrating on improving his basketball skills and was titled as the “Most Defensive Player” in the same year. He was also honored as the “Most Valuable Player” of the league since he lead the league in stealing and scoring. Jordan was a part of the “Dream Team” in 1992 and took part in the Summer Olympic Games, held in Barcelona, Spain.

Business Life

Michael Jordan led a successful life as a businessman as well. He was a part of the profitable endorsements such as Wheaties and Nike. He owned a reputed golf company and introduced various products in the market. The Michael Jordan Cologne reportedly sold more than 1.5 million bottles within the 60 days of its release. Such a venture made him a multimillionaire instantly. On the other hand, he signed a $30 million contract in 1997 and it made him the highest paid athlete in the world. He also grabbed $40 million as endorsement fees during this year.

Abraham Lincoln was the 16^th president of United States and also headed the country during the Civil War. He shall always be remembered for his efforts to abolish slavery and for his ability to rule a divided nation. The Gettysburg Address, the Emancipation Proclamation and two other inaugural addresses made by Lincoln are considered to be the best speeches to be delivered by any American Leader.

Early Life

Abraham Lincoln was born on 12^th February, 1809 to Nancy and Thomas Lincoln. The family lived in Hardin County, Kentucky in a small log cabin of a farm. After two years, they moved into a farm of Knob Creek. Lincoln went to a school which was located two miles away from this farm and this is where he learnt the basics of writing, reading and mathematics.

In 1818, Abraham Lincoln lost his mother to a terrible disease called the “milk sickness”. The family started falling apart after the death of Nancy Lincoln and hence Abraham as well as his sister had to share much of the workload. His father later got married to Sarah Bush Johnson, who moved into the family with her three children. The family moved on to several places for better opportunities, however once Abraham grew up, he moved to New Salem and was later in charge of a store and a mill.

Public Life

While working at the mill, he soon grew popular amongst the masses and people came to him to enjoy his stories. Abraham soon became popular for his  little speeches and he was welcomed by the New Salem Debating Society. During the Black Hawk War, between hostile Native Americans and United States, Lincoln was elected as the captain of the region by the volunteers.

Lincoln announced himself as the candidate for the Illinois Legislature, soon after the war. Although he lost the election, he received about 277 votes out of 300, in the precinct of New Salem. He made another attempt in 1834 and was then elected at the Legislature. Most politicians during that time were impressed by the campaign skills used by Lincoln. He served four years in the Legislature and then became the party leader. After reading several law books, he started practicing law by September 1836. He was married to Mary Todd on 2^nd November, 1842.

The 16^th President

The Republican National Convention, in 1960, chose Abraham Lincoln as their candidate to fight presidency elections. With a recent formation of the Democratic party and the Constitutional Union Party, it was certain that Lincoln was to participate in the election. After Lincoln was elected, several parts of the country reacted harshly on the president’s stand on slavery. His tenure as a President was faced with early failures and he had to withstand the occurrence of the Civil War. Lincoln was elected again in 1864 and after the Confederate Army ended the Civil War, John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln while he was addressing the crowd in Ford Theatre in Washington. Abraham Lincoln died on 15^th April, 1965, the day after he was shot. Although the reasons behind his assassination are still unknown, he has managed to build a prominent place for himself in American history.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is considered to be one of the finest players in the Indian Cricket Team. In addition, he is regarded as one of the greatest batsman of all times. Wisden, the renowned magazine for Cricket, ranked him as the second greatest Test Cricket Batsman, right after Sir Donald Bradman in 2002. After Viv Richards, the magazine also ranked him as the second greatest batsman for One Day International (ODI).

Early Life

Sachin Tendulkar was born in Mumbai, India on 24^th April, 1973. His father, Ramesh Tendulkar, was a Marathi novelist. His elder brother, Ajit Tendulkar, encouraged him to play cricket. While studying at Sharadashram Vidya Mandir, Sachin started playing cricket at a very early age. Under the strict guidance of his coach named Ramakant Achrekar, Sachin mastered the basics of this game. Later on, he showed his prowess in the game and was selected in the Indian team along with his school mate Vinod Kambli.

International Debut

In 1989, Sachin Tendulkar made his first Test cricket appearance in a match against Pakistan in Karachi. In the same match, another player from Pakistan made his debut, called Waqar Younis. Sachin scored 15 runs in the match and was soon bowled out by Younis. On 18^th December, 1989, he made his first ODI appearance against Pakistan at Gujranwala. He could not score a run in this match and was caught by Wasim Akram after facing a Waqar Younis ball.

Accolades

Sachin Tendulkar is known as the “Little Master” by his contemporaries. The leg spinner from Australia, Shane Warne, addressed Sachin as one of the greatest players of all times. In addition, Sachin is the only one from the current generation of players, who made it to the dream team formed by Sir Donald Bradman. At the moment, Sachin Tendulkar is credited with scoring the highest number of runs in ODI and Test Cricket. Also, he has scored the highest number of centuries in both forms of cricket. He happens to be the first player to score more than 10000 runs in ODI cricket. For his services to India in the field of sports, he is awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and the Padma Vibhushan Award.

Sachin Tendulkar has shown some of his best batting performances against Australia, supposedly the best team in the world. He scored his first test century at the age of 17 and he had scored 16 centuries by the time he was 25 years old. He surpassed Brian Lara and emerged as the biggest Test scorer in 2008.

Captaincy

Sachin Tendulkar was appointed as the Captain of the Indian Cricket Team, twice in his international career; however none of the trials turned out to be successful enough. In addition, the pressure of captaincy suppressed his skills as a batsman.

For many, Sachin Tendulkar is a true gentleman and a brand amabassador of Cricket. And such is the humbleness and grace of Sachin Tendulkar, that many people do worship him as a God of Cricket! Sachin Tendulkar has the maximum records in Cricket history including “Most runs in a single inning (ODI)” and Highest Total runs both in ODI and Test Matches. He also has number of centuries in both formats of game!

English writer, director and actor, Charlie Chaplin happened to be one of the most unique creators in the history of cinema. His performances often reflect the sympathetic comic character with a moustache and ill-fitting clothes. He was recognized and applauded all over the globe.

Childhood

Charlie Chaplin was born as Charles Spencer Chaplin on 16^th April, 1889, in a small district of London, England. His father’s name was Charles Spencer Chaplin Sr and was an accomplished singer until he started drinking whereas his mother’s name was Hannah Chaplin, which was a talented piano player, a singer and an actress. His mother spent most of his years in and out of the mental hospitals. Once his parents separated, Charlie spent his time with his half-brother Sidney, who was forced to move into orphanages. They often slept hungry here and were beaten up if they were found misbehaving.

Charlie left school and went out on a tour with a small group of comedy entertainers. He could barely read or write. He was seen starring in small comedy acts later on. At the age of 19, he turned out to be one of the renowned music-hall performers in London.

Journey to United States

Charlie Chaplin went to United States in 1910 and was chosen by Mack Sennet, a successful filmmaker, to appear in silent comedy acts of Keystone. After his early movies such as “Tillie’s Punctured Romance” and “Making a Living”, Charlie decided to change his acting style. He refused to overact and got precisely delicate with his comic movements. This is when he created the role of a “tramp”.

He appeared in more than 30 short films for Sennet, however he realized that the speed at which he was working, eventually held back his personal talent. He later quit working with Sennet and moved on to Essanay Studios. A few of his notable films during this period were “The Tramp”, “His New Job”, and “The Champion”, recognized for their sympathetic and comic moments. However the films shot in 1917, as a part of the Mutual Company, such as “The Immigrant”, “The Pilgrim”, “Easy Street” and “The Cure” portrayed sharp humor. Charlie Chaplin built his personal studio and penned down a million-dollar contract to produce silent-screen classics with National Films. The films made here touched some of the sensitive issues pertaining to slum life and life after the World War.

After a series of successful films, Charlie Chaplin was caught in a controversy, based on his political views about United States and its people. He was highly criticized for his behavior and was later caught in another controversy about his personal life. A woman claimed him to be a father of her child, however Charlie won the case and it was proved that he was not the father of her child.

In 1970s, Chaplin was recognized for his contribution to films and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of England as “Sir Charlie Chaplin”. Two years after this honor, Charlie Chaplin died in his sleep on 25^th December 1977, in Vevey, Switzerland.

Pele is one of the greatest soccer players ever. In his career, he has scored over 1200 goals, including several World Club, World Cup Championships and has covered 1360 games. This automatically translates to one goal per game.

Early Life

Pele was born as Edson Arantes do Nascimento on  23rd of October 1940. He happens to be the son of Dondinho (a Fluminense footballer) and his mother was Maria Celeste Arantes. His parents named him after Thomas Edison, the American inventor, however in order to create a unique name; his parents removed the “I” from the name and called him ‘Edson’. As the reports suggest, there seems to be a mistake on his documents, including the birth certificate and shows his name as “Edison”. His family originally nicknamed him as “Dico”. He received the name “Pele” only once he reached school, where the name was given to him according to the way he pronounced the name of his favourite player, Bilé. If we were to read his autobiography, Pele says that he had no idea how he got the name or what it meant. The only thing he knew that it was Hebrew for miracle and the word seemed to have no meaning in Portuguese.

Pele was brought up in Bauru, São Paulo and lived his life in poverty. He made some extra money while working as a servant in various tea shops. As a child, he could not afford proper football and was found playing with a sock filled with newspaper or a grapefruit tied with a string. When he turned 15, he later joined the junior team of Santos FC. Prior to joining the senior team, he played in the junior club for one season.

While his time at Santos, Pele got an opportunity to play along some of the gifted players of the time including Coutinho, Pepe and Zito. On 7th September 1956, Pelé made his debut for the Santos team and scored one goal against Corinthians. In the season of 1957, he was selected in a starting place and then he became the top scorer in the league, at the age of 16.

Personal Life

In 1966, Pele was married to Rosemarie Cholby, however they ended up being divorced in 1978. He later married a psychologist called Assiria Seixas Lemos. He had three children out of his first marriage.

Soccer Career
On July 7, 1957, Pele was asked to be a part of the national team of Brazil. He played his first international match against Argentina, in which he scored the first ever goal for his country. He then played his first international match against USSR in the World Cup of 1958. Pele happened to be the youngest player of the tournament and scored his first goal in the quarter finals against Wales. This was the deciding goal of the match, which took Brazil into the semi-finals. At just 17 years, Pele became the youngest player to score a World Cup goal on June 19, 1958. One of the goals that he scored in this World Cup is still considered to be one of the best goals in the history of soccer.

While Pele was still in the team, Brazil won three World Cups championships of 1962, 1966 as well as 1970. As soon as the 1962 World Cup ended, a few of the wealthiest European clubs wanted to sign Pele; however Brazil then declared him as the “national treasure” of the country.

On November 19th, 1969, pele scored the 1000th goal, which is now known as the “O Milesimo”. According to him, the goal that he scored against Sao Paulo at the Rua Javari stadium in 1959 happens to be the greatest goal of his life. Pele scored a “gol de placa” in March 1961. This goal was so impressive that it is still being remembered as the most beautiful goal. As far as the history is concerned, one of the most significant moments were when the Nigerian Civil War declared a ceasefire for 48 hours, just to watch Pele in an exhibition match.

On July 18th, 1971, Pele played his final international match in Rio de Janeiro against Yugoslavia.

After Soccer

Jose Alves de Araujo, a long time friend of Pele owns a company called Prime Licensing. This company is responsible for maintaining Pele’s brand along with his existing contracts including Pele L’uomo, Puma AG, Fremantle Media, Pelestation, QVC along with Pele Arena coffee places. Pele is active with his ambassadorial work for several organisations across the world. He was appointed as the UN ambassador for environment and ecology, in the year 1992. He was appointed as “Extraordinary Minister for Sport” in 1995 and was also the recipient of the Brazil’s Gold Medal. Later on he also served as the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. He took active steps to eliminate corruption within the Brazil football that was later referred to as the “Pele Law”. In 1997, he was honoured as the “knight” in the British Empire.

He has worked on several autobiographies, documentaries and semi-documentaries, along with a few musicals. Pelé was brought in as the Honorary President on August 1st, 2010 to revive the team “New York Cosmos”, so as to prepare them for the Major League Soccer.