Athletico 100 years: João Alfredo Silva, the patriarch

Six days after the publication of the Lei Áurea, the boy was born in Marechal Floriano (AL). João Alfredo Silva. Orphaned by his mother since birth, he was raised by a priest uncle until he was old enough to join the Army. A great-aunt’s address and some intuition made him choose to serve in Curitiba, where he arrived without luggage on a trip that lasted about a month.

In the following decades, his impetus for achievement would change the face of the city and Athletico. As the uncle who welcomed him was a Post and Telegraph employee, Private Silva learned Morse Code. When he was discharged, enchanted by communication and technology, he was part of the group of radio amateurs who founded Rádio Clube Paranaense, in 1924.

He married Isaura Cabral, daughter of the colonel who owned the farm that today gives its name to a neighborhood in Curitiba, and soon prospered in the commercial and accounting sectors. At the age of 40, already the father of three of his four children, he graduated in Medicine from the Federal University of Paraná. He was director of several hospitals and founded others.

At the age of 59, he became president of Athletico and began the construction of the city’s first sports gym, behind the goal on Rua Buenos Aires, a place with a lot of history.

In 1948, with his son Joffre Cabral e Silva as football director, he continued the professionalization of the club with renowned players such as Wilson, Waldir and Sanguinetti, in addition to bringing the notable Motorzinho to lead the squad that, from the following year onwards, would earn the club’s eternal epithet.

João Alfredo was no longer president in 1949, as he took leave due to his wife’s health problem, which forced him to move to Rio de Janeiro. His legacy, however, changed Hurricane’s life.

Of his lineage, his son Joffre and grandson Nélson Fanaya were presidents, while his great-grandson Nélson Fanaya Filho was the hood of red-black marketing in the Atletico Total, Atletico 3000 and rebranding 2018, among other adventures.