How an New York schoolteacher ended up on a soccer team with Pele — and got fired for a nude photo shoot
“One day we were nobody and the next there are limos picking us up to take us right to Studio 54 after the game," Messing said.
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Sports Entertainment How an New York schoolteacher ended up on a soccer team with Pele — and got fired for a nude photo shoot By Gavin Newsham Published June 15, 2026, 7:26 p.m. ET See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The New York Post on Google The New York Cosmos soccer team was going nowhere fast. A disparate assembly of part-timers, students and foreigners, they played their games in the North American Soccer League (NASL) at Downing Stadium, a crumbling wreck of a venue under the Triborough Bridge at Randall’s Island. Then things changed overnight with the decision to sign Brazilian soccer legend Pele in 1975, made by charismatic chairman Steve Ross and the club’s new owners, Warner Communications, which saw the team’s fortunes change overnight.
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