August 30, 2010 witnessed, among other things, the passing away of the last surviving footballer to have participated in World Cup 1930, in Uruguay. Senor Francisco "Pancho" Varallo, Center Forward for the Argentine national team circa 1930-1937. At 20, he was the youngest player in the 1930 World Cup thereby becoming the youngest player in the World Cup Finals in 1930 (Argentina lost the finals to Uruguay 4-2).
Varallo in action against Italia (you gotta admit the pants rock!)
I have never watched him play, nor seen any footage of this man in action. In fact I hadn't heard of him till I came across an article citing his death. However, I did read up on his life, and the man is an Argentine legend having scored 180 goals in 210 league games for his club Boca Juniors; a record that lasted till 2008 when it was broken by Martin Palermo. He even jokingly expressed his desire to come out of his retirement upon hearing the news of his record being finally broken by Palermo. He was 98 years old in 2008.
Senor Varallo lived for a 100 years. RIP.
ps: Picture from here.
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