Julius doin’ his thing Above the Rim Image thanks to Sportsartifacts.com

With his Herculean afro and cheerful smile, Julius Erving and his 6’7 frame seemed larger than life. While MJ freaked the world with his masterful fadeaway in the ‘90s, it was “The Doctor” who initially administered the funk during the 1970s. You can ask New Yorkers about “Claw’s” highlights Uptown, or Michael Cooper about being rocked by the cradle—or if that doesn’t work, YouTube Julius’ dunk from the free throw line. What’s clearly evident is Julius had all the ingredients to make him a marketable star.

When the ABA merged with the NBA in 1976, Converse approached Erving about endorsing their new Converse Pro Model. The Doctor, who had been rocking Chucks since the age of three, quickly jumped at the chance to roll with his favorite brand. As Mr. Garcia’s book, “Where’d You Get Those? New York City’s Sneaker Culture: 1960-1987” happily proclaims, nearly every playground ballplayer with flavor wore these on the court. With an ingeniously placed heel cushioning wedge, high quality leather, and intriguing exclusive stripe colors, the Pro Model was highly sought after for its form, too. Suede, mesh, and canvas variations were also available to the public. And who could possibly forget the exclusive pair that Walt Davis wore? A suede toebox and leather upper always wins!

Converse’s reissue of the venerable Fastbreak

As the legend aged, Converse looked for fresh talent to wear their ever growing stable of kicks. The Pro Star came about in 1983, and was worn by a bevy of high school teams and professionals. The “Bernie Kings” as they were affectionately nicknamed, came off hard—word to Mister Voodoo. With a thicker Chevron, a sweet heel logo, and beefed up ankle coverage, the newest Star lived up to it’s namesake on the court. On the other end of the spectrum, Cons dropped the Fastbreak, a lightweight guard’s dream of a shoe with a nylon/leather upper. And yes, I can only imagine how dope the white/gold pair must’ve been Bob! (It should also be noted that Converse created the first biomechanics lab for footwear wear testing in 1982.)

Choose Your Weapon-These guys don’t play Image thanks to The Converse Blog

And what would a mid-80’s Converse post be without the mention of Magic and Larry? In ’86, Converse unloaded the (nonviolent) “Choose Your Weapon” campaign on the population. Showcasing both of the aforementioned players, the Weapon was an iconic shoe for Converse that received plenty of love when it was reissued a few years back.

I have to give credit where credit is due. E’ryone should peep Bob’s “Where’d You Get Those” if they haven’t. And be sure to look over at The Converse Blog to see James’ “Weapon Wednesday” posts.