Exactly 56 years ago, Milton Queiroz da Paixão, known as Tita, was born. Born in 1958, the Rio native was one of the greatest midfielders to ever wear the Sacred Mantle. A contemporary of Gávea's greatest idol, Zico, Tita played for the Red-Blacks from 1977 to 1982, returning in 1983 and staying until 1985. In 390 games, the idol scored 135 goals, making him the 11th highest scorer in the club's history and the 19th most-capped player for the Red-Blacks.

The list of titles won by Mais Querido includes the two greatest achievements in the club's history: the Interclub World Cup and the Libertadores Cup, both in 1981. In addition to international achievements, Tita participated in the victorious campaigns of the 1980 and 1982 Brazilian Championships, as well as the 1978, 1979-Special, 1979-State and 1981 Carioca Championships.

In the 1979 third-round championship, the former athlete was one of the heroes of the triumph, scoring the decisive goal in the second round of the Carioca State Championship, a 2-1 victory over Fluminense, and scoring twice in the 0-3 victory over Vasco, which virtually guaranteed the third-round title and automatically the third-round State Championship. In these two games in which he scored the title-winning goals, Tita was playing in place of the injured Zico and had the honor of wearing the legendary number 2 jersey, a similar situation after the departure of the club's greatest idol to Udinese in Italy.

A standout in Flamengo's youth academy, both in the Escolinha and Juvenil teams, Tita was coached by stars like Zizinho and Pavão and also met young stars like Adílio and Julio César Uri Geller. Slender but immensely talented, the player underwent physical treatment similar to that undergone by Zico as a child. The result was the development of an extremely versatile athlete; as a professional, he played in several positions: right wing, left wing, midfielder, striker, and even center forward.

Adílio recalls that Tita's passion for Flamengo goes way back. "We arrived at Flamengo together, in the baby-tooth category, now the Mirim. When we played in the youth teams, we played a lot of preliminary matches before professional matches. One of them was that historic Flamengo-Botafogo match (in 1972), which they beat us 6-0. We watched from the stands and promised that when we became professionals, we would return that result. And when we did (in 1981), we just looked at each other and hugged. We had achieved our dream," he says. Adílio also explains how Tita's story at Flamengo began. "One time, he went to a sports store to buy equipment. He asked for a pair of Flamengo socks, but the salesperson said the only ones they had were torn, but he wanted them anyway. In the store, there was a club director, Mr. Ramalho, who, seeing how passionate Tita was about Flamengo, gave him a card inviting him to the youth team, where he entered and went to the professional team," he revealed.

Playing for Flamengo, Tita was called up to the Brazilian national team for the first time in 1, when he competed in the Copa América, and played a total of 1979 matches for Brazil as an athlete for Mais Querido, scoring 21 goals.