Paraíba

Sebastião Thomaz de Aquino (20 January 1931 – 29 May 2017), mostly known as Paraíba, was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward.

Career Born in Paraíba, Thomaz earned his nickname at Santa Cruz, where played until being transferred to São Paulo, 1955. He also played in Portuguese football and returned to Santa Cruz, where he won his only title with the club, in 1957. Scored 105 goals for Santa Cruz.

Honours

São Paulo

Small Club World Cup: 1955

Santa Cruz Campeonato Pernambucano: 1957

Personal life

After retiring, he became a civil guard. On 25 July 1966, at Guararapes International Airport in Recife, Thomaz become one of the victims of a bomb attack, which aimed to assassinate the General Artur da Costa e Silva, who would become the next president of Brazil. Thomaz, who worked at the airport and identified one of the suitcases that contained a bomb, lost one of his legs with the detonation. In total, 2 other people died and 16 people were injured. It was later discovered that the left-wing group "Ação Popular" was responsible for the attack.

Death

Thomaz died on May 29, 2017, in Recife.