Posted on 07/21/2003 9:59:08 AM PDT by Ed Straker
Article Published July 21, 2003
Ballplayers would miss Chuck Taylors
Story by Mike Peters
Say is isn't so, Chuck.
They took one more step this week in the plot to send thousands of former high school basketball players into the black hole of sports anonymity.
Nike bought Converse.
AirSwooshPumpUpLiteUpFancyShoes that cost $120 bought little ol' reliable Chuck Taylor All Stars.
When many of us were just lads, playing high school ball in the 1960s before Nike came along, the best, most wonderful basketball shoes were the Chuck Taylor All Stars.
Zeke Garretson knows. For years, the owner of Greeley's Garretson's Sport Center owned the best-known sporting goods store in eastern Colorado.
Located in Sterling, Zeke took over the store after coaching at Peetz and Holyoke.
Garretson, now 68, traveled across eastern Colorado, promoting Converse high tops, which were usually black canvas and had white rubber toes. The round patch was added just over the ankle to show everyone you were wearing Chuck Taylors.
Later, they came out in an all-white shoe, which REALLY hit it big because everybody knew white shoes made you look snazzier, helped you to run faster and jump higher.
For many years, we kids thought Chuck Taylor was some big pro basketball player who endorsed the greatest tennis shoes ever made, but now I discover he was a big-time shoe salesman who sold the shoe just like Zeke Garretson, across the country, school by school.
So, way back in 1962, when I was playing basketball in a small mountain town, we saved our money to buy the Chuck Taylors. It wasn't much, $8-$10 for a pair of shoes, and can't compare to the $120-$150 form-fit, sport customized, neon-orange, lighted, aired, pumped-up shoes you find today.
But they had white or black canvas high tops and low tops and great brown rubber soles with a tread that HAD to make you perform better. The Boston Celtics wore them. Bob Cousy. Bill Russell. And we kids could wear the same shoe.
Nothing in the world was better than wearing new Chuckies on the gym floor, which would make a loud "SCREECH!" with every stop, start and turn. Every player wanted Chuck Taylors.
Zeke Garretson knew that. With his station wagon packed with Chuckies, he drove south throughout eastern Colorado, from Sterling to Arriba to Punkin Center to Bethune to Flagler. Sixty to 70 towns he'd hit every season, bringing Chuck Taylors to the teams.
That's where we met, way back in 1968, when Chuck Taylors were still the best, and Garretson came around to Flagler High School, where I was trying to coach basketball.
He was the same ol' Zeke in those days, talking basketball and football, selling the Chuck Taylors, lamenting like everyone out on the plains about how Limon must be recruiting players because they're so good every year.
Those were the days before Adidas came out with the first leather basketball shoe. "It sold for $12.95," Garretson said, "and I said nobody would pay that much for a tennis shoe. I guess I was wrong."
Since then, as they say, price is no object. Nike brought out Air Jordans in the late 1980s, selling them for $100.
Today, Garretson's still has the Converse canvas high tops for $32.95, and the new Nike Air Flightposite III for $150.
"I was surprised Nike would buy Converse," Garretson said.
"Converse declared bankruptcy a couple of years ago and were close to going out of business completely."
It's been said Nike will promote the Converse as a retro shoe, meaning "the goofy shoe old guys used to wear."
Garretson believes they'll sell it in a less-expensive market, at the big stores like Wal-Mart and Kmart.
Whatever they do, Garretson and us other goofy old ball players hope they keep the Converse around for awhile.
A lot of us would miss Chuck Taylor.
Staff writer Mike Peters' column about Weld County people appears Mondays in the Tribune. His humor column, the Gnarly Trombone, appears Saturdays.
The Converse sneakers you see for sale now are made in China which is not surprising. The next time you find yourself shopping for "sport" footwear, most of it will be Chinese made, check it out - either versions of what was once made domestically (Vans, Converse, Pro Keds) or new on the scene brands like Sketchers and Merrill.
Nike really still has a bit of the sweatshop image problem that they never really accounted for or did a whole hell of a lot to correct.
I won't be replacing my Converse even if in a few years they start looking like the ones worn by Joey Ramone.
Chucks are the greatest, and worst, shoes. They look great, but are hell on the feet. Still, I wore black Converse hi-tops all through college (86 - 90) and still do to this day. I even tried to wear them while giving birth to my daughter, but the obstetrics nurse put the kibosh on that plan.
Could my hubby get me to part with mine? What is it they say? From my cold dead feet...
Having said that, among the black, white, red, blue pairs I've had, I have a pair in khaki; This is the only one that color I've ever seen.
I figure if an author is going to comment on matters of culture and consumer goods, he may wish to consult reality in addition to his own perspective. Omitting the huge market for Chucks over several decades is either lazy or stupid. He even goes so far as to mention how they may market it as a "retro" product, in a self-deprecating way. If anything, Chucks already endured their "retro" flair, and are fully ensconced in cultural cliques that he apparently wishes to ignore.
That kind of writing is perfectly suitable for a diary. But it's rubbish if published.
I have several pairs of Chucks but hardly wear them anymore.
I have flat feet and I can't put up with the ensuing pain like I used to. :(
Isn't this OUR time, Mr. Hand?
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