Heart and Sole Part II

In 1987, Nike had made significant inroads in the sneaker market, but the basketball scene was pretty much all Converse as it had snapped up some of the NBA’s biggest stars in Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Mark Aguirre, Isiah Thomas, Kevin McHale, and Bernard King.

Domestically, the Ateneo De Manila Blue Eagles made a splash that same year during the Opening Day of the Season 49 of the UAAP as it became the first local team to wear one shoe… the ballyhooed Converse Weapons. Recalled skipper Nonoy Chuatico who later played for Purefoods and Ginebra San Miguel in the Philippine Basketball Association, “Wearing new shoes – those worn by Larry and Magic – gave us an additional confidence heading into that season. We looked good in them and every one else noticed.”

“Who didn’t want to wear Weapons then,” asked one former Ateneo official. “The shoes were not provided by a local dealer as team management purchased them in the United States. But pretty much everyone wanted to have those shoes with the blue stripe on it after seeing Ateneo in them.”

But the following year would see the Swoosh rocket into the stratosphere. Michael Jordan’s 1987-88 season was phenomenal by any standard in any era. He pretty much took home all the trophies save for the Larry O’Brien Trophy for the championship. Jordan in a tour de force performance romped away with the Master Lock Defensive Player of the Year Award and the Maurice Podoloff Trophy as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player – the first player to do so (Hakeem Olajuwon duplicated the feat later on) all in the same year. And he bundled it with the Slam Dunk title, the All-Star Game MVP, and his second straight scoring title.

And His Airness accomplished it all wearing the Air Jordan III (still his favorite shoe to date). The mid-top shoe displayed the vaunted Air Sole conditioning system and featured elephant trim that greatly differentiated it from other kicks of the era. But the one significant change in the shoe was the new Jumpman logo.

It is safe to say that Jordan almost singularly rocketed Nike’s stock and image all over the world. Sure there were other athletes from other sports but none achieved the global iconic status of this young man from Wilmington, North Carolina. And through Jordan, Nike crossed over into pop culture and defined cool for the MTV Generation. Nike defied conventional wisdom for image versus information advertising that stipulates that for small companies to get their message across they must convey value for money to consumers. In the face of this, it became imperative to lock up sports’ big stars and those with potential. Some made big money without having played an NBA minute.

There were a host of “next Jordans.” While some were projected to emulate or surpass him like Harold Miner, Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Jerry Stackhouse, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, and today LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to name a few, at times it was for the mere association. Hence Brand Jordan where athletes like baseball’s Derek Jeter, basketball’s Eddie Jones, football’s Randy Moss, and the Philippines’ very own Alvin Patrimonio and John Arigo. Said Rely San Agustin who was then with Nike, “Alvin was like the veteran Jordan – an inspiration to all since he played with a lot of talent and heart -- while John was the rising star. Their charisma was something we felt that could be associated with the Jordan Brand.”

Some have performed on the Jordanesque level and have carved out their own niche of greatness but most wilted and are saddled with the tags of "coulda, shoulda, woulda."

But if basketball became the sole domain of Nike, off the court and on the pitch, it was all adidas and Puma. When Brazilian Joao Havelange became the president of FIFA in 1974, he formed an alliance with Coca Cola and adidas to not only keep his promise of including more African and Asian teams in the World Cup (aside form youth championships and other development programs). This gave the two global brands an opportunity to penetrate more markets. The late adidas chairman Horst Dassler and his business partner Englishman Patrick Nally (who is considered the father of sports marketing) saw this as his chance to outfit the nation teams of countries. This helped him gain a large measure of influence in the sporting associations of different countries that allowed the three stripes greater presence not just in the World Cup but in the Olympics.

The battleground for the hearts and soles of the world’s athletes was no longer confined to the playing fields but in government and on television.

Next: The toymasters and the battle for China

- (in picture) German football legend Franz Beckenbauer