40 Nike did not terminate Kobe Bryant following his arrest for sexual assault in July 2003.
41 Reebok spent $25 million promoting the Dan vs. Dave decathlon battle.
42 Martina Hingis blamed Sergio Tacchini sneakers, which she endorsed and wore, for her seemingly career ending ankle injury in 2002. She began competing again this year, wearing Adidas.
43 Diadora has a museum devoted to its history and athletes housed in the basement of its store in Florence, Italy.
44 Before B.R.S. was renamed Nike, Phil Knight proposed the name Dimension 6.
45 Carolyn Davidson, the Portland State University graphic design student who designed the Nike swoosh in 1971, was originally paid a fee of $35. In 1983, Nike gave her shares of its stock and a diamond ring featuring the swoosh.
46 Arthur Ashe, the late tennis star whose name is licensed for a shoe line through Run Athletics, was the first African-American man to win Wimbledon, in 1970. Sadly, apartheid kept him out of the South Africa Open. Don\'t hate the player, hate the game.
47 Dee Brown was the first NBA Slam Dunk Champion to wear Reebok Pumps.
At the 1991 Slam Dunk Contest, Brown repeatedly pressed the inflatable basketball on the tongue of his Reebok Pumps, sprinted downcourt, leaped, and flushed a diagonal left-handed slam. The company sold 20 million pairs of the $170 Pumps in four years, but their popularity faded. The Pump\'s latest edition is the Romulus, a high-tech upgrade. "When we took prototypes out, we had the manual pump and the new version," says Bill McInnis, Reebok\'s Director of Advanced Concepts. "Everybody picked the pump ball first, but once they tried [the Romulus] on, the conversion rate was 100 percent." Still, neither guarantees a Slam Dunk title. (TG)
48 In 2002, the Jordan XVII retailed for $200 and was the most expensive sneaker ever at retail.
49 William Riley, founder of the New Balance Arch Company in 1906, based early designs on chicken\'s feet.
50 New Balance makes up to six different widths-from 2A to 6E.
51 The Nike waffle sole was originally called the "nipple sole" by its inventor, Bill Bowerman.
52 After realizing that they wear the same size, Steven Malkmus of Pavement once traded a pair of sneakers with Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz.
53 Skater Stevie Williams was first signed to DC shoes, but now skates in his own line of Reebok DGK models.  "DGK" stands for William\'s group of friends, who went by the name "Dirty Ghetto Kids."
54 Reebok signed Allen Iverson to a lifetime contract on November 28, 2001. A.I. gets a reported $7 million a year from the company.
55 Jordans are released on Saturdays so that kids don\'t skip school to get \'em.
56 Gwen Stefani\'s L.A.M.B. clothing line makes sneakers through Royal Elastics for both women, and, believe it or not, men. That shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S!
57 K-Swiss\'s five-stripe design is utilitarian; it helps prevent stretching.
58 Marc Jacobs bases the designs of the Louis Vuitton sneakers on "ordinary occurrences and everyday anecdotes." You couldn\'t tell?
59 Reebok almost signed LeBron James to a $75 million-dollar contract, until Nike snatched him up for $90 mil.
60 In 2003, Reebok signed a three-year-old basketball prodigy named Mark Walker. They scooped the youngster after his parents sent in a video of Walker making 18 consecutive free throws on an 8-foot hoop. In a press release Reebok referred to Walker as "short of everything but talent."

Home // SNEAKERS // FEATURES // 101 Things You Didn't Know About Sneakers: 41-60