Jordan also famously told David Letterman in 1986 that the black/red colorway was banned because “it didn’t have any white in it.” Jordan even responded to Letterman's quip that the shoe was banned for being ugly by replying, "Hey, I agree with you - they are ugly." The new shot, when turned into a silhouetted graphic, would go on to become the iconic Jumpman logo. This was the shoot where Jordan would recreate a pose he'd struck in a 1984 photograph taken by Jacobus Rentmeester for LIFE magazine. Instead, the sneakers had a simple "AIR JORDAN" wordmark in its place. Photographer Chuck Kuhn and Jordan did a two-day shoot in Chicago with both colorways, but the sneakers were yet to feature the classic Wings logo. "Michael, unless you can get the Chicago Bulls to change their colors to Carolina blue, those are going to be your colors," came Strasser's reply.Īccording to sneaker collector and former ProServ employee Kris Arnold, Nike’s original plan was for two primary Air Jordan colorways: a white/black/red colorway (now known as the “Black Toe”) for home games and black/red for road games (now commonly referred to as the “Bred”). “I can't wear that shoe - those are the devil’s colors,” he's reported to have said in reference to his college team's hated local rivals NC State. Jordan himself had reservations about his new shoes' color combination. It was a team game, and it was understood that on-court sneakers shouldn't be too flashy. Did he think he was better than everyone else? Back then, NBA players wore primarily white sneakers with one additional color to match their team's jersey. The Bulls' management was also worried about the message Jordan was sending by standing apart through his color choices. As the story goes, Jordan would be fined $5,000 every time he wore a non-color-code-compliant sneaker on the court, with Nike picking up the tab. NBA commissioner David Stern didn't take kindly to the footwear breaking the league's "uniformity of uniform" rule, wherein players had to wear shoes that matched both their team's uniform and their teammates' kicks, and the league sent a letter to Strasser confirming that "the wearing of certain red and black NIKE basketball shoes" was prohibited. Pushing boundaries from the get-go, Jordan wore a primarily black and red Air Ship in a preseason game against the New York Knicks on October 18, 1984. The New York Times didn't even mention college player of the year Jordan until near the end of its draft report. Big men Hakeem Olajuwon (Houston Rockets) and Sam Bowie (Portland Trail Blazers) were selected before Jordan, mainly because teams back then prioritized centers more than guards. In 1984, the Chicago Bulls selected Michael Jordan as the third overall pick in the NBA Draft. As sneaker culture continues to flourish, becoming a multi-billion-dollar worldwide phenomenon, it’s worth taking a look back at how a fairly simple sneaker made of red, white, and black leather influenced everything from the game of basketball to fashion and modern-day marketing. Every passing year, the legend of the man that made the Air Jordan 1 famous becomes larger and more fantastic. The story of the Nike Air Jordan 1 is complex and full of intricate details. You can always change your preference by visiting 'Cookie Settings' at the bottom of the page.Drew Hammell, aka takes us through the true stories behind Nike's Jordan Brand and its catalog of seminal silhouettes, starting with the Air Jordan 1. Blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings. Because we respect your right to privacy, optional cookies are not set unless you enable them. We would like to set optional cookies to give you a better user experience and to assist us in understanding how visitors use our site. We use Strictly Necessary cookies to make our website work. The information does not usually directly identify you, but it can give you a more personalized web experience. This information might be about you, your preferences or your device and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to. When you visit any website, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies.
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