Star Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown is a sneaker free agent by design, his high standards for what he wants in footwear he would be endorsing with not only his name but also his values make the fit — both literal and metaphorical — critical.
But as is often the case with Brown and the Celtics, the forward-thinking star is following a path blazed long ago by a larger-than-life Boston icon, Hall of Fame Celtics big man Bill Russell. Decades ago, in the Louisiana native’s prime with Boston in the 1960s, Russell decided to endorse a shoe made right here in New England.
And he did it his way, creating a product that extended the life of that shoe company without simply being a transactional renting of Russell’s name and likeness.
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 27, 2023
Rhode Island-based Bristol Manufacturing Corp had long produced canvas sneakers but was in danger of going out of business against a new wave of cheap synthetic sneakers from abroad, according to Sports Illustrated’s John Hanlon.
The company decided to reach out to Russell, and to their surprise, the often-aloof center acquiesced despite his usual disinterest in endorsements, autographs, and the like.
Even more of a surprise was the man they got to know during the process of involving him in the shoe.
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 28, 2023
“Russell was anything but the sullen introvert I expected from the stories about him, and that he knew exactly what he was doing there,” said Factory manager Salvatore V. Gianola.
“He told us that he had long wanted a chance to put before a manufacturer his thoughts on an important tool of his trade, because it had been a problem with him for a long time.”
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 28, 2023
“He said he hadn’t been able to get a shoe that would stand up for more than two or three games, and that the flat-footed landings he made after those great leaps of his in rebounding left his feet burning and his legs and back aching,” he added.
“Then he went on to tell us that this wasn’t merely a matter of his putting a name on a product: it had to be a product that he had a hand in developing. Beyond that, he said he would not endorse it until he personally had tested it thoroughly in action and was convinced it could do the job.”
“Now, candidly,” Gianola shared, “this set us back.”
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 28, 2023
“We assumed we’d come up with something perhaps a little different, all right, but that it would be our thinking going into it—it’s our business, after all, and that we would be telling Russell what to do,” continued Gianola. “But Bill’s message was clear, and it left no doubt in our minds that it would go his way or there wouldn’t be any Bill Russell basketball shoe at all.”
Russell’s demands were exacting, fit for a man whose game was as well, with the USF alum needing a shoe that would “permit him to stop short, start fast and not produce static friction to slow him when running.”
“It must soften his landings on rebounds. It must not hinder his pivots. It must be flexible and light, and at the same time strong and durable.”
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 29, 2023
Even the colorway — a word decades away from even being invented — was an issue on Russell’s mind; “I want it in gold—and remember, gold, not yellow,” he related to the design team.
“About that point, with Bill telling us how to make him one pair of size 14½ shoes that would cost us about $3,000 with no assurance that he’d even endorse them, we were saving to ourselves. ‘Why did we have to pick this guy? Why didn’t we go for someone we’d mail off a letter to asking for his endorsement and he’d write back and say it was O.K., just send the money?'”
“Oh, no, we had to get Russell,” lamented Gianola.
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 30, 2023
But the design was not only good but cutting edge, far ahead of the Chuck Taylors and the knock-offs of them dominating the sport at the time, “building up the rubber on the sole about 1/16th of an inch at the main points of contact heel, toe and ball of the foot.”
“For traction, (they) developed from a concept proposed by Russell a series of small triangles pointing forward; these were in place of the standard suction cups found on most sneakers. Flexibility was gained by scoring the sole laterally across the arch area. Comfort And shock resistance were gained by building up the innersole and the impact areas with a special product of Bristol’s that expands on vulcanization into thousands of tiny air cushions.”
Then, they delivered the shoes to Russell — and for several weeks, heard nothing.
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 30, 2023
“When he eventually checked in. the report was fine,” related Hanlon. “(Russell) said he hail worn the shoes for 21 games and for the practices in between before they had begun to sag. And they were ‘comfortable as slippers.'”
The company put together a production-line run, with a total of 25,000 pairs made, all of which sold out quickly, with the main run coming soon after.
And like Shaquille O’Neal, another Celtics alumnus many years in the future who also had a similar idea to make those shoes affordable, Russell demanded that shoes with his name on them be attainable to all.
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 30, 2023
“He told us that he didn’t want a kid wearing a pair of basketball trunks costing about $1 having to pay about $10 for a pair of shoes with the Russell name on it,” shared Gianola.
“‘So we settled for $7.95,'” the factory manager’s tone of voice making it obvious that he felt Bristol could have charged more for the sneakers and gotten it from customers.
Russell hoped to one day include his extensive Liberian rubber tree plantations in the production sourcing, but that did not end up coming to fruition in what was truly a vision for a sneaker business model very far ahead of its time.
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 30, 2023
In fact, the demands of Russell dragged Bristol into the age of contemporary shoemaking, with the company acknowledging his role in helping modernize their show line far beyond just athletic footwear.
“The product we came up with, working with Bill, is the leader, the one that set the pace,” said Gianola. “But that’s only a part of it, as far as we’re concerned, with Bill.”
“I guess the way we feel about him is this: if, after all the work, we had come up with a product he didn’t think he could endorse, we still would have considered ourselves lucky, just because we got to know the man.”
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— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) March 30, 2023
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