Slim's Sneaker History

It's been a while since I've written about kicks, as nothing new has really caught my eye enough to inspire a post. So I've decided to take a moment to let you in on how my sneaker obsession began. I'm sure you're just dying to know. I trace the obsession back to my days in the first grade, when my good friend Ryan, of Half Court Heave fame, moved in next door to the Mayfields on good ole Shuman Lane in Finneytown.

Up until this point, I had never owned a pair of Nike Airs and it wasn't until I saw Ryan and his older brother rocking them that I began to covet them more than anything else in the world. My desire to own a pair grew so strong that one time, while eating at a restaurant with my family, I noticed a waitress wearing some and loudly exclaimed, "She's wearing Nike Airs!"

One morning after a sleepover at Ryan's house, I noticed a pair of black and white Nike Air trainers sitting in the basement. They were an old pair of Ryan's brother's shoes and they fit me perfectly. I asked if I could buy them, despite being pretty worn in, and before long a deal was struck for $5-10. It should also be noted that after Alonzo Mourning was traded to Miami, I bought my second Starter jacket from his brother which was a Miami Heat pullover.

I remember walking around in my used kicks and looking at the Nike Air logo on the back of my heel to soak in the glory of wearing a true pair of Nike Airs. Yeah, I was a dweeb. From this point on, an obsession was born. The obsession wouldn't be fully realized until after graduating college, but the seed had been planted nonetheless.

If I still have your attention, take a moment to marvel at some of the freshest sneakers I rocked during my formative years.

It didn't take long until I was asking Santa for Jordans every Christmas. During first grade, I woke up on Christmas morning to find these white and maroon Jordan VI's sitting under the tree. My mom picked them herself and needless to say she came through in flying colors. This colorway has become highly coveted over the years but has yet to see a retro release from Jordan Brand, much to the sneaker community's ire.

When I was in first grade, Reebok Pumps soon became all the rage. I'm not sure if this is the specific pair that I owned, but they were definitely white, teal and red. Because other Reebok Pumps had basketballs and tennis balls on the Pump to coincide with the respective sport they were designed for, I always considered my pair kick ball shoes due to the red Pump.

Around the time I was in third grade, Converse began to catch on with their basketball shoes. I think I had at least two to three pairs throughout this fad, including some Larry Johnson and Kevin Johnson signature shoes. I'm also not entirely sure if I had this specific pair, but I definitely had some very similar to this. I wore one pair of Cons in so much that the pocket on the back of the sole cracked open, causing React Juice to slowly oozed out of them for weeks. Once dirt started getting in there, it got pretty gross. For those who don't know what React Juice is, check out the video below.

Who can forget Converse's ingenious Grandmama campaign for Larry Johnson? Grandmama was so wildly popular that he/she even appeared on an episode of Family Matters with Steve Urkel. Grandmama played in a street ball tournament and got injured during a crucial moment. Unfortunately, I can't find the clip on YouTube, so this commercial will have to suffice.

While Reebok Pumps and Cons had their moments in the '90s, Nike and Jordans were still where it was really at. I think I was in the fourth grade when I was lucky enough to own a pair of these Jordan VIII's. These were some pretty wild shoes for the time they were released, epitomizing the ridiculous style of the '90s.

Bugs Bunny, Marvin the Martian and various other Looney Toons characters were used to promote these kicks. I definitely rocked this shirt with my Jordan VIII's.

Here's the original Jordan VIII ad with Looney Toons characters courtesy of Sneaker Files.

I rocked a pair of these Nike Air Wayups with some blue accents in the fifth grade. They are very similar to Penny Hardaway's first signature shoe. If I remember correctly, I wanted the Penny 1's but settled on these because my mom wouldn't fork out the cash for the Pennys.

I owned a pair of these in sixth grade, my first year of middle school, when fashion started getting real important. I thought the script Air logo was totally sweet but in retrospect it's pretty tacky. I remember riding the bus looking at these in my Eastbay catalog, dying to put them on my feet. These were a cheaper derivative of the Nike Air Max Uptempo, which have been releasing in various colorways lately like this over-the-top red colorway.

These Nike Air More Uptempos were the shit to be wearing when I was in the sixth grade. I thought they were pretty ridiculous at first, but eventually came around to them. Scottie Pippen wore these while playing on the second Dream Team, which was obviously not up to par with the original squad even though they still won gold. On the upper of the heal was a gold 8, which was Pippen's number in the Olympics.

These were the kicks that I debuted on the first day of school in the seventh grade. They were called the Nike Air Hawk Flight and were worn by Gary Payton. This was around the time that Nike's Zoom Air technology became popular. They often included ridiculous extended Zoom Air soles with crazy shapes on the side like this and this. While I was still true to the Miami Heat, around this time I was also a big Seattle Supersonics fan due to the exciting alley oops of Gary Payton and Shawn "The Reignman" Kemp.

In the eight grade, I rocked these ridiculous kicks which were worn by the Miami Heat's Tim Hardaway. They were called the Air Zoom T-Bug Flight. They had a zipper over the laces, that when unzipped revealed a super bright orange tongue and laces. Unfortunately I can't find an image of this anywhere on the internet.

So that about wraps it up for my sneaker history throughout my formative years. There's a lot of stuff that I was unable to find online, including a few pairs of Nike running shoes that seem to have been forgotten over the years. In high school, I didn't rock basketball shoes as much, especially by tenth grade when I started to get really alternative and rock Pumas and Etnies that ripped off Jordan 1's. I hope that you've enjoyed looking at some of the heat that I impressed with on the playgrounds and in the hallways.