José Manuel Soares, better known as "Pepe" was a Portuguese footballer. He played his entire career in the club of his heart and land, the Clube de Futebol os Belenenses. There, he won 2 Portuguese championships and 2 Lisbon championships, and between 1928 and 1931 he was consecutively the best scorer of the Lisbon competition, reaching, in the period from 1930 to 1931, the surprising mark of 36 goals in just 14 games. At that time, against Bom Sucesso, Pepe scored 10 goals, in a challenge that Belenenses won by 12-1. On October 23, 1931 Pepe felt severe abdominal pain at work - he was a machine repairer at the Navy Arsenal, and died the next day. He was 23 years old. For a long time, it was speculated about the cause of death of the ace - and the explanation came more than 55 years after the fatality. In 1988, Homero Serpa, in an interview with A BOLA Magazine, revealed that Pepe would have died from his mother's involuntary food poisoning. His mother, who could not read, mistakenly exchanged caustic soda for salt while preparing chorizos, which he ate in a sandwich, two days prior to his death. In the year following his death, Belenenses erected a memorial at the Salésias Stadium, which would also receive his name. When it moved to Restelo, in 1956, his memorial was also placed there.
José Manuel Soares, better known as "Pepe" was a Portuguese footballer. He played his entire career in the club of his heart and land, the Clube de Futebol os Belenenses. There, he won 2 Portuguese championships and 2 Lisbon championships, and between 1928 and 1931 he was consecutively the best scorer of the Lisbon competition, reaching, in the period from 1930 to 1931, the surprising mark of 36 goals in just 14 games. At that time, against Bom Sucesso, Pepe scored 10 goals, in a challenge that Belenenses won by 12-1. On October 23, 1931 Pepe felt severe abdominal pain at work - he was a machine repairer at the Navy Arsenal, and died the next day. He was 23 years old. For a long time, it was speculated about the cause of death of the ace - and the explanation came more than 55 years after the fatality. In 1988, Homero Serpa, in an interview with A BOLA Magazine, revealed that Pepe would have died from his mother's involuntary food poisoning. His mother, who could not read, mistakenly exchanged caustic soda for salt while preparing chorizos, which he ate in a sandwich, two days prior to his death. In the year following his death, Belenenses erected a memorial at the Salésias Stadium, which would also receive his name. When it moved to Restelo, in 1956, his memorial was also placed there.
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