Golden Sneakers, Nike and My Dad
Swoosh: My Personal Story of the Best Sneakers I’ve ever Owned
The picture above on the left shows me at 14 yrs old running track for Murphy Jr. High School on Long Island in New York. The pictures on the right are of the legendary runner, athlete and activist for athletes rights and a personal hero of mine in 1975 (and still today) Steve Prefontaine. And what’s funnier than my socks from the mid 1970’s are the sneakers I’m wearing and the very interesting story behind them.
At this point in my second year of running for my school, I’d won about 22 races in a row and I needed a new pair of running shoes. So my Father picked out and bought me those Golden Sneakers I’m wearing in the above picture.
I was never arrogant about being undefeated ( it was all new to me at 14) and I was actually kind of a quiet and shy kid but those shoes screamed out “I’m going to beat you!” and I did win every race for the rest of that season and all of the next year too.
But those Sneakers of Gold which my father bought for me have a very interesting back story in and of themselves.
Created by a relatively unknown company at the time by the head track coach for the University of Oregon Bill Bowerman, who coached the first real track superstar in the world Steve…
