Walk to the basketball section of a Foot Locker today and you will see innovative technology built into sneakers with the bright and loud color ways. It could be the Giannis Immortality or the Luca 3. It could be the G.T. Cut 3, Tatum 3 or even the Sabrina 2. The colors pop, the designs are revolutionary and unique. Silhouettes have to stand out to grab our attention. The performance that shoe offer have to match the demand that the athletes that wear it, put it through. Athletes of every age….
Today’s NBA courts are filled with sneakers that are bright pink or orange or even metallic gold like the Lebron that graced the court for Team USA’s win over Serbia. Long gone are the days of Larry wearing green and white converse and Magic wearing the purple gold and white pair. Shoe colors seldomly match the uniform colors. But let’s take a step back to 1994 for shoe that stood on simplicity. The Jordan 10.
In ’94, Michael Jordan had already stepped away from the game of basketball. In 1993, Mike wins his 3rd NBA title against my beloved Phoenix Suns. Kevin Johnson, Thunder Dan and even Sir Charles weren’t enough to stop the Chicago Bulls who won the series in 6 games. MJ had the Jordan 8 on his feet during the playoffs and into the finals. There are plenty of pictures of him wearing Jordan 9s during that season, but because of (supposedly) Tinker Hatfield’s request, MJ wore the 8s in the post season.
Jordan 9 would become the first Jordan to be released while MJ was “retired”. He wore a cleated version of the Jordan 9 while he played Double AA baseball for the Birmingham Barons. He had them on when I saw him play during the 1994 Arizona Fall League. At the time, we thought MJ’s departure from the game would be permanent.
We thought the Air Jordan line would end with MJ out of the league….
If you’re wondering what happened to the Jordan 9, you’re not alone. It was just a victim or bad timing. During the 93-94 season, Nike would launch the weird “Johnny Killroy” campaign that didn’t really make sense.
They even brought back Mars Blackmon for a baseball commercial.
But the 9s weren’t featured in it. It’s a bit of a mystery why the Michael Jordan statue outside of the United Center in Chicago features the Jordan 9. It might just be what the artist was told to sculpt, but its an odd choice to say the least. Jordan would go back to the Jordan 9 when he returned as a Wizard in 2002 in a very full circle moment. But at the time, we had no idea what Jordan would be the “last Jordan”.
Shoe designer Tinker Hatfield had other plans. When sneakerheads saw the Jordan 10, the simplicity stood out. But the Jordan 10 might be the only Jordan shoe with a outsole that stole the attention from the upper. The Jordan 10 has the most memorable and most recognizable outsole ever put on a pair of Nikes. Tinker listed an accomplishment for every year MJ was in the league on the bottom of each pair. At the time, we thought it was a tribute shoe. The 10 had the quick lace technology that they used on the 9. But it didn’t “feel” like a hoop shoe. It had a phylon midsole with a full length zoom air that wasn’t as soft or responsive as other shoes in the 94 catalogue. Could the memorable outsole give a hooper the traction that we were looking for from other pairs such as the Air Force Max or the Maestro? Nike told us that synthetic leather would hold its shape better that organic leather and that synthetic didn’t need a break in period. Jordan 10 – genuine leather.
We saw it as a tribute shoe. Not a hoop shoe. And it was BEAUTIFUL. But not to MJ. While Mike was striking out and hitting singles for the White Sox, the Jordan 10 was developed. It was the first Jordan model that Mike did not approve. He had input in the early stages, but according to Hatfield, nothing was set in stone. And this leads the greatest Mandela Effect in the history of sneaker culture…the toe cap. Three colors were released in addition to five regional packs in five different color ways. The original pairs included a toe cap. MJ preferred a clean toe so the shoe was recalled and the clean toe box pairs were sold. In Arizona, we didn’t know anything about a toe cap. At least I didn’t. Every pair I have ever seen (including the pairs I have owned) have all had a clean toe. This is pre-internet. If I’m being honest, I never knew anything about the toe cap until a few years ago. And I love Jordan and Air Jordan history.
17 months after Michael Jordan retired from basketball, he sent an iconic fax (google that one kids) with two simple words…”I’m Back”. Two days later on March 19th, 1995, he returns to the Bulls to play against the Indiana Pacers at Market Square Arena. He has the number 45 on his jersey. It’s the same number he wore for the Barons. It’s the same number he wore on his junior high basketball team. And he wearing the Jordan 10 with the number 45 stitched on the side. It’s a big moment for me. He scores 19 on 7-for-28 shooting with 6 rebounds and 6 assists. They lose in OT. But its MJ. And he’s back.
The Jordan 10 took an immediate turn from a perceived tribute shoe to a performance shoe that MJ and Pippen would both wear. The Knicks would eliminate the Bulls in the playoffs in 1994. But the Jordan 10 would be the pair that would always be connected to Jordan’s return to the league. He would score 55 in his 5th game back from retirement while wearing it. The Chicago color way that he wore that night would affectionately be called the “double nickel” for the rest of time. It would also be released with a “55” stitched on the ankle of the shoe. It had more OG colorways that any Jordan silhouette including the Jordan 1. It was the first Jordan shoe to be “remastered” and it would become a predominant PE pair for legends like Mitch Richmond and Kendall Gill. It would get a retro in 2005 and again 2015. And this year we will get it again. We will get the “shadow” colorway and the incredible “steel” color way. Make sure you buy them both. And make sure you wear them!