NEW YORK – Stan Smith first played at Wimbledon in 1965 and won the tournament seven years later, giving him lifelong privileges. However, Stan Smith was only allowed to sit in the Royal Box in Centre Court while wearing his original green and white Stan Smith.
“It was a big deal,” he told Yahoo Sports on Thursday.
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Unless he’s playing tennis or attending an event that requires dress shoes, the 78-year-old Smith is almost certainly found wearing a pair of adidas shoes, one of the world’s most popular and well-known sneakers, bears his name.
However, as Smith’s tennis career has led him to a US open title and the No. 1 ranking in 1971, the number of people who know anything about the shoe’s same name and the story behind its lasting impact will be smaller.
“Unless you’re over 60 and probably over 50, you’d never seen me play,” Smith said. “So, unless you’re a tennis historian, why do you know?”
The gap between that generation makes it an interesting watch with the recent release of Hulu and ESPN+ for millions of people who wear shoes but don’t think much about the guy whose faces and names adorn their tongues, from the uninterrupted media company of LeBron James and Maverick Carter.
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Smith always had good humor about that aspect of his fame. He wrote a book in 2018 entitled “Who I think I’m a shoe.”
But the story of how his shoes became such a phenomenon is fascinating.
Adidas introduced the first leather tennis shoes in 1963, bringing the signature of French tennis star Robert Heilet closer to perforating the signature, but with his retirement in 1971, the company searched for support of the new star. Especially the American stars.
During the French Open in 1972, the head of Adidas Horst Dussler met with Smith and his agent Donald Dell, and convinced them to wear shoes at Wimbledon a few weeks later.
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After Smith won the title, Dell had leverage. And he didn’t want Adidas to put Smith’s signature on his shoes, as well as silhouettes of his face.
“He made up his mind,” Smith said. “And obviously, if I’m going to get involved with shoes, I was supporting the idea. The name was already on it with Hailette, but to distinguish it, it was a bit of a coup to put the photo and my signature on my tongue.
(Fabian Nitschmann/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)
(Photo Alliance by Getty Images)
Smith’s days at the top of the sport were almost completely unbearable due to elbow issues as far as he wanted.
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But just after he retired, everything changed in the 1980s. In the UK, changing style trends towards more casual dresses and sportswear often featured Stan Smith, a balanced balance of casual and elegant. And in the US, Run DMC hit “My Adidas,” and a tour with the 1987 BCE Boys (who wore Stan Smith) transformed the shoes into a cross-culture status symbol.
“It’s easy and timeless,” musician Pharrell Williams said in the documentary. “I think every community has embraced their shoes – the hustlers, the drug dealers. If we were to be authentic, we would be authentic.”
Worshiping the feet of everyone from David Bowie to Barack Obama, the shoes have been popular for several generations. Certainly Smith was surprised.
“I’m ready to support the shoes, I’m ready to support the shoes. My favorite thing is to see my daughter and mother wearing the same shoes. Usually my daughter isn’t going to die from what her mother wears,” he said. “So, when the spread of interest around the world and the culture of people differ, shoes have a good price range.
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“I remember once stopping in Kenya on my way to South Africa. The guy who came to clean the plane was wearing my shoes without shoelaces. They looked about 10 years old. So it was very special to aim to wear these shoes.
The film addresses all these elements, but details the entire story of Smith’s life, including his intimate friendship with Arthur Ash, with author Mark Matabane choosing to boycott Wimbledon, escape South Africa’s apartheid and escape the US on a tennis scholarship, in 1973, instead of defending his title.
Smith and the other players skipped the tournament in protest that Yugoslav player Niki Pilic was suspended by the International Tennis Federation to play in the World Championship tennis event rather than the Davis Cup.
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“We felt it wasn’t fair,” Smith said. “I was one of the founders and leaders of ATP. Meanwhile, I was playing the best tennis of my life and won seven of the 11 tournaments in the spring of ’73.
“But it was the beginning of our ATP, the beginning of the player’s rights. The Federation controlled four majors and the players were like dolls on the show. Our goal was to allow players to play anytime of the year whenever they wanted, and not be controlled by the federal government.
But what’s as interesting as Smith’s journey in tennis was is the shoes that make him bigger than life. No one will play tennis anymore, including Smith himself, but their simple yet iconic retro style ensures that his name will remain on the feet of people for many generations.
