PHILADELPHIA — Bob Rigby boarded two flights and a hydrofoil boat, traveling 30 hours to meet the New York Cosmos in Sweden as their last-minute goalkeeper for a 1975 world tour. He grew up in Delaware County, was a substitute teacher while playing at Veterans Stadium for the Atoms, and was now standing behind Pelé in the tunnel of a European soccer stadium.
“I remember looking out at the field, looking right over his head, his head steaming because it was really cold on a fall night over there, and I just remember, ‘Holy mackerel,’ ” Rigby said Thursday, hours after Pelé died in Brazil at 82. “The awe. It was just surreal. The vividness of that memory hasn’t changed at all.”
Rigby played the four-country tour with the Cosmos, winning over Pelé that first game after stopping more than 20 shots as the Cosmos were overmatched against powerful Malmö FF. Pelé immediately told ownership that the Cosmos needed Rigby and then took the kid from Ridley Park out on the town. That, Rigby said, was the biggest honor.
