The inspiration of this post came to me after having a dad moment. As a father it is easy to upset one of your kids; you do something that isn't cool in their mind, you say something silly, you exist. On the other hand, and I love when this happens, I actually hit a home run for one of my kids. It's a joy when I can help provide experiences they really treasure. It's not always easy, sometimes it costs money, and sometimes it seems like you'll need to mortgage the house to hit the mark, but it's worth it. My parents have done so much for me in non-tangeable ways in their love and support. Financially, it was a challenge keeping us kids dressed let alone provide for extra needs. Being a parent now, sometimes it really takes pulling a rabbit out of your hat to make things happen for your kids. You can't explain how it happens, but it does. These shoes and the stories behind them I share to my kids in gratitude for my own parents for magically keeping the feet covered on an aspiring little basketball player.
The 1989 Nike Air Cross Trainer 3 Low were perhaps the first pair of shoes that I begged my parents for. This was a couple of years before the David Robinson sneakers that I've written about. These sneakers came at the dawn of a shoe craze ushered in by the likes of Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson and a host of other professional athletes. I must have seen someone wearing a pair just like this on television or at school, because when we visited the shoe store I knew exactly what I was looking to see. Back then these shoes would cost about $40 which was a lot of money for a 10-year-old kid in my family. I don't remember if I had to beg relentlessly for them, but I was sure a happy kid once I put them on. I remember telling my mom that it truly felt that I was walking on clouds. I loved the soft embossed Nike logo on the tongue. The neon pink color was so visible that you could see how cool my shoes were from across the playground, and I was most excited about the 'Air' embroidered just below the Nike logo on the back of the shoe. These shoes were legit. I must have been wearing these the day I defeated Chase Stevenson in the 5th grade 1-on-1 basketball tournament at Sarah Jane Adams Elementary. In those days I had church shoes and play shoes and that was it. These were for play and I remember loving them so much... Until I began to hate them so much.
This picture was taken during my 7th grade year of Jr. High. I had made the basketball team and perhaps the first order of business to address in the quality of my playing was the quality of my shoes. Once the tread wore down on them they were more like ice skates on a basketball court than anything. The shoes were never meant for basketball to begin with and because money was tight at our house, we came up with a number of terrible ideas to improve the grip of my souls. Have you ever tried to wear tape on the bottom of your shoes to keep them from slipping while playing basketball? Thankfully, I haven't because I was smart enough to try out that Micky Mouse method at home first. It's a dumb idea. Making the basketball team was a dream and therefore I was desperate for new shoes; shoes just for playing basketball. I would take these new pair to my games in a plastic back as to not get them wet or worn down on the concrete. Another $50 dollars later, I had a white pair of Nike Flights with black and blue trim.
These were never favorite shoes of mine, I don't think they had the official air pocket in the heel, but they did what they needed to do. For some reason I always felt guilty having these. They weren't 'play' shoes or church shoes, but my first pair of dedicated basketball shoes. Surely the only thing I was guilty of was growing up. Growing kids have growing feet, thus, the shoes were retired not long after for a larger shoe.
The black Adidas Phantom high top shoe was the shoe I remember next for playing basketball. I was weird to go from white shoes to looking down at my feet and seeing these black beauties.
If black wasn't weird, than how about looking down and seeing burgundy shoes? I didn't seek these out, they literally landed in my lap. The shoe style was one that I really liked since it was one that some of the good varsity players wore that I looked up to. My dad actually came home one day and surprised me with a Nike shoe box. I opened it to see the strangest color shoes that I'd ever seen. Who wears burgundy shoes? Through one of his connections through work he'd found out about a rejected team set of basketball shoes. I guess the color of burgundy was the wrong color. The result was getting a hold of a pair that was just my size. I loved these shoes mostly because my dad got them for me, and not so much for the added attention I'd get when I'd wear them. Some kids would say they were 'Blood' gang related since at the time gang activity in Layton was on the rise.
These would be the shoes I'd wear as I ended my playing days at the Jr. Varsity level. I was both sad and happy to be cut in the 9th grade. I was interested in maintaining basketball team status, but truthfully I didn't fit in with most on the team and didn't play much. My parents weren't able to attend all of my games at the time, and I was secretly happy they weren't there for those games I sat the bench the whole time. Fortunately there was a strong city basketball program growing up and I could play alongside some other pretty good players in the Jr. Jazz program.
Once I got into High School I thought to try out once again for the basketball team. I was pleased to make the first cut or two, but wasn't truly surprised or saddened by not making the final list. I was however thrilled to finally have a pair of Reebok pump shoes. These were the pair inspired by Dee Brown's winning performance at the NBA dunk contest. My pair wasn't the exact version shown here, but a cooler and sleeker black suede version. I loved those shoes. Never did I think I'd get my mom to pay $90 for them. The grand total must have been around $100 since we got the suede protectant spray the Foot Locker shoe sales man convinced us to buy as we stood below the autograph covered basketball backboard that used to hang above every Foot Locker register. When retiring these shoes after a couple of seasons, I cut open the tongue of the shoe and carefully removed the pump mechanism to use with my next pair of sneakers. I still love the idea of the pump for shoes, but some gimmicks fade quickly. No quicker than the balancing gel in my next pair of shoes.
These pair of Converse reacts had some neon yellow gel in the heel of the shoe. The purpose being that as weight was applied to one side of the gel compartment, the liquid would flow to the opposite side of the shoe and therefore create added support. I can't say that I ever felt any added support, but the main memories I have in these shoes are as follows:
- I remember playing on Tuesday nights with the men in our stake. It was basically open court at 9pm and the men didn't mind that I'd come to play. There were inactive guys, men on the high council, bishopric members, and a couple of us kids. It seems that in every instance I was graced by the presence of a gym rat, a spiritual mentor, or someone named Dennis. And in a few special occasions, John Stockton, lookalike Bill Dutton would come play. He didn't play nearly as well as John Stockton, but he looked like him so much in those days. I ran into him a couple years ago and the likeness had seemed to wear with his grey hair color and different style, but he was still the same old Bill with a nice friendly southern drawl that made you feel appreciated when he spoke.
- I remember wearing these shoes when I went on one of my first dates to SLC. I was super nervous to make the drive by myself, but I had to take the chance since Ariane Nelson agreed to go with me to see the U2 laser show at the Hansen planetarium. I wore these shoes, knee-length denim shorts, too much cheap cologne, and a white t-shirt covered by a red plaid shirt. Part of our date that evening was passing through the festivities taking place after the announcement granting SLC the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. We ran into my Uncle Steve and his family that night by chance, and I remember how terrible I was at introducing my date to my extended family. I'm still terrible at making introductions. Can we just make that not a thing anymore?
- I remember wearing these shoes one weekend right after I got them to a friends house one weekend. I figured we wouldn't be running around outside so I didn't have to worry about wearing down the tread on my shoes. Sadly, we took our activity outside with some water balloons. We decided that we'd hide on the side of the road amidst some thick oak brush in 'the dip' on Antelope Dr. and throw water balloons at cars driving by. There were six of us, 3 boys (Doug Rose, Bryan Tesch, and myself) and 3 girls (Jody Poll, Heidi Pabst, and Kristen Black). I didn't think we'd actually hit any cars and that actually was the case. Right in the moment of exhausting our supply of ammunition we heard some mighty bass pumping down the road. This wasn't the kind of car you played juvenile tricks on in the first place. The boys didn't have any more balloons, but the girls had one more. They threw it. They hit it. The next thing I heard was mighty bass hitting the brakes. My running around outside then commenced in a life-saving effort to escape the wrath of whomever was driving that car. I feel lucky to have never seen the man, but we definitely heard him shouting a string of obscenities through the night air. The thick brush cut our legs as we ran, and the mud on the ground massaged its way all over my leather shoes. Bryan and I ran to safety together leaving the others ultimately with different and more exciting escape stories to tell later that night. I was so upset that my new pair of shoes got so soiled that night. Perhaps that helped me stay out of trouble whenever I'd meet up with mischief seeking friends from that point on.
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