The strenuous effects that Nike had paid can not be ignored. If anyone who want to make his fortune, he had to put all his eggs in one basket. Anyone who want to make a difference, must devote himself into his undertakings.
Blazer: In the early 1970s,
Nike finally was ready to enter the basketball market. The first pair of basketball shoes-the Blazer was born, like what Nike brought to the runners. The design process was established between the communication between basketball players and the shoe structure. Bill Bowerman, one of the co-founder of the Nike Company once said, "Their (athletes') demand drives us to design".
The design of Vandal was come from a poster boy who was the traitor of the 1960s rock stars and showed his disrespect. The popularity of the Vandal basketball shoe was come from the performance of the details, the bold design of black shoes wrapped with the nails. The removable black leather supporting beam was quite welcomed compare with the infamous leather segment pants and the gem color green lizard and marked with the inside shoes tab. On the sole, the good grip rubber outsole added the forefoot and heel traction. This was what a basketball player demand in the confrontation on the floor.
In the early 1980s; Nike Air series opened their prologue in the basketball shoes market, which accepted a high evaluation of the basketball players. With the first cushion basketball shoes launched by Nike Company, Air, Force I became a milestone in the basketball shoes movement. Under the background of the famous Dr. J jumping gymnastics, basketball game started its period of dynamic athletic performance. However, in the early times, most coaches pointed that if his athletes jump too often, they might cause trouble. It was the air cushion technology who supported this big change. As a representative of the artistic basketball shoes in 1982, AFI changed its soles to a combination of the circle, and adopted the leather material as its uppers. The comfortable Velcro buckle on the ankle part was acted as the protection for the ankle. However, the real factor to the new changes of AFI was the shoe cushion. After this new application, Nike opened its prologue to combine its tradition basketball shoes technology together with other sports shoes. Many basketball players greatly praised the AFI, and this innovation also paved the way for many of the classic brands, for example: Dunk, Terminator, and the Air Jordan I.
Even it has been 20 years passed since the birth of AFI, people can not forget this valuable treasure of Nike.
Terminator: In 1985, NIKE modeled with Air Force I, designed Terminator shoes for the NCAA (U.S. college athletes' Union) Georgetown University team (Georgetown Hoya), depended on its model's uniform color. The most special place was the printed bold letter "HOYA" in the heel portion.
Dunk: In the late 1970s, the dunk was quite famous in the basketball court. This campaign is a blend of the performance and the strength. In the last weekend of the 1984 All-Star game, this sport became a separate event. However, NIKE noticed its deficiency; they should invent one pair of shoes that allow athletes to fly. Thus opened the prologue of DUNK. The innovation of this shoe is comparable with the following eight universities uniforms in the U.S: U of Kentucky, U of Michigan, U of Syracuse, U of Maryland, U of Iowa, U of Arizona, UNLV and Georgetown University.
The usually speaking NCAA (American League Championship), full name of the National Committee Association America, is an association of thousands of colleges and universities in the United States involved in the alliance. And the NCAA basketball refers to the first district college basketball games in the U.S.
