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00:00The sneaker market was blowing up.
00:11You had a lot of high-profile, signature marketing campaigns.
00:16I mean, Jordan obviously had put Nike on the map.
00:20How does Mike defy gravity?
00:21Do you know? Do you know? Do you know? Do you know?
00:23Converse had Larry Johnson as Grandma Ma.
00:26Let's go!
00:27Shaq, of course, was affiliated with Reebok.
00:30But I'm ready. Then prove it.
00:32In order to break through, you have to compete with
00:36and hopefully succeed against that competition.
00:43Wladowruzka here at the Beverly Hills Country Club
00:45with another tennis tip from Vila.
00:49Vila was a brand that had always been
00:52a successful country club apparel brand
00:55that evolved into athletic footwear.
00:58See you soon.
00:59Vila always had a very strong fashion sensibility.
01:03Does this mean you guys want me to do it over?
01:05What they lacked at the time
01:07were really some performance credibility.
01:09And they had basketball shoes,
01:13but they weren't a serious player on the endorsement stage
01:19and was looking for someone to lead their advertising in the U.S.
01:241-0-1 remaining in the contest.
01:27Duke up by 9.
01:28And Mike Krzyzewski during that timeout.
01:30No information overload with X's and O's.
01:32We were looking at college players.
01:34We had actually signed Jamal Mashburn out of Kentucky
01:37as our first really signature guy.
01:40But then everybody had their eye on Grant Hill.
01:45Grant checked off the box as someone
01:47who was as comfortable on the cover of GQ
01:52as he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated or Slam Magazine.
01:55So we saw an opportunity with a guy like Grant
02:00to really get the guy who personified both, you know,
02:04style and performance on the court and off the court.
02:08Here's an opportunity to sign a guy
02:10that can define the destiny of Fiala.
02:25Hello, everybody.
02:47Tom Suter, 530 Sports Headlines.
02:49Duke has fought its way into the NCAA's Final Eight.
02:52Last night, Grant Hill taking over for the Devils.
02:5516 of his 22 points in the second half.
02:58Duke roars past Marquette 59-49.
03:01I just came out and was trying to be more aggressive,
03:03make things happen, be very happy.
03:05I arrived at Duke University in 1990.
03:09I played four years there,
03:11three NCAA championship games,
03:15two championships.
03:17People knew who we were.
03:20More importantly, they knew who I was.
03:22Being athletic, being a high flyer,
03:27having exciting moments, exciting highlights,
03:31certainly translated at the time
03:36as someone dynamic who could fit in
03:39to what would become sort of that sneaker culture.
03:43There were two schools of thought within the company.
03:46I led the Grand Hill as the right guy for Fiala.
03:51And our design team and our product merchandisers
03:54were very enthusiastic about Jason Kidd,
03:57who was coming out of Cal at the time.
04:01Jason was a point guard, great player, great guy,
04:06and really appealed to the influencer and the trendsetter,
04:10particularly in the inner city.
04:11My argument was, we have that market right now.
04:18The feel of brand had cachet among the influencers.
04:22And I said, what we need to do is we've got to expand
04:24the universe of people who will buy and wear our product.
04:28And I thought that Grand had the ability to do that.
04:30I still vividly remember my junior year,
04:37we lose a tough heartbreak of a game
04:40to Cal University and Jason Kidd.
04:43We had just been on this incredible ride for three years,
04:47and we finally lost in the second round in Chicago.
04:50As we were on the plane and Coach K came up
04:55and spoke to me and my roommate,
04:57I remember the first thing he said was,
04:59we're switching to Nike.
05:03Once Coach left, we were so happy.
05:06We were like, did he?
05:08For three years, we wore Adidas.
05:10They weren't very popular amongst the players on the team.
05:15They thought that the idea of wearing Nikes
05:17was really, really cool.
05:20We wore Nikes my senior year.
05:23They gave us certain shoes to wear,
05:25and I remember with the third of the season left,
05:28I went to the Foot Locker,
05:31and they had a pair of these Nikes.
05:34I don't know what they were called.
05:35They're like, I don't know, David Robinson wore them.
05:38And so I bought them.
05:41I kind of rocked them the rest of the season
05:43and through the tournament.
05:46And I remember all my teammates thought
05:48that Nike sent them to me,
05:50and I got a special pair.
05:52But the reality was, I went and bought them.
05:55I bought them at the mall.
05:57When I left Duke, we had a senior dinner.
06:01The seniors had dinner with Coach K and his wife,
06:03and Mrs. K said that our class of the 125 games
06:10we played during our four years,
06:13you know, 122 of them were on national television.
06:16I was able to leverage that kind of visibility
06:26as I was departing Duke
06:28and entering into professional sports in the NBA.
06:31A representative from Reebok was sending me stuff,
06:42so I had the Reebok pumps.
06:45A lot of folks were sending me things,
06:46but, you know, Nike was where I was looking at.
06:51We knew that Nike was very interested in Grant,
06:55and he had been courted by Phil Knight.
06:56And we knew through our sources
06:59that Grant had flown out to Nike,
07:02I believe, on Nike's corporate plane.
07:07I remember going out to visit the campus with my dad
07:12and spent a considerable amount of time with Phil Knight,
07:15and he even talked then about the market in Asia.
07:19That was an untapped market,
07:20and he felt my profile would resonate with the culture there.
07:26He even talked about having me via satellite
07:29at the Great Wall of China for the draft.
07:32I think it speaks to Phil Knight's vision
07:35and how he was thinking big even back in 1994.
07:40Everybody at the table was like,
07:41wow, like, that's amazing.
07:43And I'm thinking, I don't want to be, you know,
07:44halfway around the world.
07:46I want to be, you know,
07:48I want to shake Commissioner Stern's hand.
07:50I was all dead set on Nike,
07:53had a great visit with Nike,
07:55and returned home feeling really good.
08:01At the time,
08:03Philo was based in a suburban office park
08:06north of Baltimore,
08:08and frankly, our offices had the curb appeal of a 7-Eleven.
08:13I mean, it was not an exciting place to come.
08:18When Grant got out of the car,
08:19and by the way,
08:20I was told by his agent slash lawyer after the fact,
08:24he didn't want to get out of the car
08:26because he had been to Nike,
08:28and he's like,
08:28what am I doing talking to these guys at Philo?
08:32So we said, well, you know,
08:33how are we going to appeal to this guy
08:35after he's just been out to Nike,
08:37which is the gold standard of the category?
08:39We knew that Grant's dad, Calvin,
08:45was born in Baltimore.
08:47He grew up in a neighborhood called Turner Station.
08:51So Baltimore was a city that was close to his heart.
08:57Philo's headquarters here in the U.S.,
08:59it was not Nike.
09:00So I kind of went over there,
09:03not so much thinking I would sign with Philo,
09:06but just, okay, let me look at something else.
09:10There's a thing about Baltimore that's distinct,
09:13which is that we eat a lot of crabs and crab cakes.
09:19So we said, we're going to put on a Baltimore spread
09:23for the hills when they come and visit us at Philo.
09:26And then we just kind of sat down in a boardroom,
09:30and we had lunch.
09:32There were crab cakes, and they were really good.
09:35It just, it was like, wow, okay, you know,
09:38I'm a bit of a sucker for crab cakes.
09:41This is, this is interesting.
09:45Everywhere he stepped in our building,
09:47we had signage that spoke to another reason
09:51why he should consider us.
09:54He got on the elevator,
09:55and there was a large poster in the elevator
09:58that listed all of Nike's endorsed athletes
10:01who had signature shoes.
10:03And it basically said,
10:05you can swim in a sea that's filled with other fish,
10:08or you can drive the destiny of our brand.
10:13It was eye-opening.
10:15There's so many athletes in the stable
10:17and Nike,
10:17and you can kind of get lost in the shuffle,
10:20but here, you can be a brand.
10:23And I remember, like, confused.
10:25I mean, I knew what a brand was,
10:27but I didn't sort of associate that with an individual.
10:31The meeting went very, very well,
10:34and we signed Grant.
10:36And the crab cakes, by the way, were a big hit.
10:40We did not have the signature shoe design at that point,
10:44but we certainly made the promise that he would get one.
10:47They committed to me before I even was drafted.
10:53To get that sort of endorsement from them,
10:56it just kind of made you believe, like,
10:58okay, if they believe in me, like,
10:59I must be a big dick.
11:01You know, I must be legit.
11:02With the third pick in the 1994 NBA draft,
11:08the Detroit Pistons select Grant Hill from Duke University.
11:13It's kind of cool knowing coming in
11:16before you've even played a game
11:18that you're going to have a signature shoe your rookie year.
11:21Like, that doesn't happen often.
11:24I think that really kind of got things going
11:27with the momentum at the start of the year.
11:29It just helped build confidence.
11:34Grant Hill being in Detroit was huge.
11:37The Pistons were looking for
11:38who was going to be the cornerstone piece
11:40for this franchise that experienced so much success
11:43in the mid to late 80s.
11:45And along comes Grant Hill,
11:47one of the best players in college.
11:51And so when Grant Hill got signed to Fila,
11:53it was a little unusual
11:54because you bringing them into a new market,
11:57into a new kind of conversation
11:59that they hadn't really been into
12:00in terms of a basketball shoot.
12:02What do you love about basketball?
12:04What do you love about the game?
12:07You know, it's so much fun.
12:09That's the main thing.
12:10All you really need is just a basketball
12:11and a hoop, and that's it.
12:14And you can go out there
12:15and be whoever you want to be.
12:18You can be Dr. J,
12:21or you can be, you know, Michael Jordan,
12:24or you can even be Grant Hill.
12:28They talked about having folks
12:30come around periodically.
12:33These were the creatives
12:34behind the documentary Hoop Dreams.
12:37The trick is we've got a thing out here
12:39to help you.
12:40If you don't want to use it, it's okay.
12:42You know, just a little spring thing.
12:44Yeah, I'll probably use it.
12:45You know, just to get you up a little bit
12:47so you don't have to do all the work yourself.
12:48Okay.
12:50It's not like you had a storyboard
12:51and, you know,
12:52this was what the commercial's going to be.
12:54You're going to say these lines
12:56and so on and so forth.
12:57But, you know,
12:58they were able to capture moments,
13:00and, you know,
13:01I think it was really cool
13:03and I think really different
13:04in terms of advertising at the time.
13:07I was a nerd.
13:08Nobody knew me,
13:09and I was just the tall guy,
13:11or I was the guy who had a father
13:13who played professional football.
13:14And then all of a sudden,
13:15I started playing basketball,
13:16and I was, you know,
13:18everybody's best friend.
13:19I did have a girlfriend or two,
13:21at least in high school,
13:22but my lingo with the females
13:28wasn't like it is now.
13:30No, I don't think I've hit the wall.
13:32They weren't necessarily selling a shoe
13:35or a brand,
13:36but they were selling me,
13:38showing who I am.
13:39You went all the way through
13:40and came out here,
13:41because he asked me,
13:41he said,
13:42I said, I think you went all the way through, Doc.
13:45He said, you know what?
13:46Luke's in there.
13:47He said, I think you did too.
13:48I went up for a dunk,
13:50and as I was coming down,
13:53I bumped into Sam Bowie's head.
13:55I guess you can't kiss anybody for a while,
13:57but I wasn't kissing anybody anyway,
13:59so it was no big deal.
14:02Grant was not screaming,
14:05prototypical, arrogant, you know, guy,
14:08that a lot of whom you saw in the NBA.
14:12He was a big contrast to that.
14:15Here's a guy who's, you know,
14:17very down-to-earth,
14:18very humble,
14:19and very respectful.
14:22And I think he gets a lot of that from his parents.
14:25One of the good things about being with Freelon
14:27is they get to get my parents' clothes,
14:30and my dad especially.
14:32His dad, you know,
14:33was a very good NFL football player
14:36for the Dallas Cowboys
14:38and the Washington Redskins,
14:40and his father always used to say,
14:42when you score a touchdown
14:43and you're in the end zone,
14:45act like you've been there before.
14:49I think he instilled that in Grant,
14:52that, okay, you're very successful,
14:54you've won national championships,
14:56but don't forget you're just another guy,
15:00and, you know, treat people with respect.
15:02And, frankly, that's what we liked about Grant.
15:05Julius Irving.
15:08My friend and I, when we were little,
15:09we used to have the Nerf basketball hoop
15:11up in our room,
15:12and we used to...
15:14He was magic, and I was Dr. J.
15:17And then finally to sit and talk to him
15:19and him give me advice
15:20and give me his phone number,
15:22I felt like a little kid.
15:23I was like...
15:24I had my cellular phone,
15:26I was like, I'm gonna call him
15:27just to make sure it's the right number.
15:29As you're leading up to the launch
15:32of a shoe mid-season,
15:34early in my rookie year,
15:35they would send prototypes,
15:37and you're just like, wow,
15:38like, I got my own shoe,
15:39like, it's crazy.
15:43I remember there were times
15:44where I'd wear them in practice,
15:46and then I'd go change them
15:47before the media would come in.
15:49At that point, you're like, man,
15:51like, why can't I just wear them now?
15:52Like, why do I have to wait?
15:54I got off to such a hot start,
15:56and we get into December,
15:59and it's like,
16:00you might make the All-Star game.
16:03Okay, let's launch them
16:04at the All-Star game.
16:09In Phoenix,
16:11being around all these players
16:13that, you know,
16:13just a year before,
16:14I'm watching and admiring
16:16and dreaming about playing
16:18with and against,
16:19and now I'm out here
16:22playing alongside them
16:24on this stage.
16:25Not only was I starting
16:28in the All-Star game
16:29my rookie year,
16:30I was the leading vote-getter.
16:32I mean, it was surreal.
16:34The only rookie
16:35ever to finish first
16:36in fan voting
16:37for the NBA All-Star game,
16:39starting it forward
16:40from the Detroit Pistons,
16:42Grant.
16:42We had Grant in the shoe
16:44at the All-Star game.
16:46Couldn't buy it yet,
16:47but he was wearing it.
16:49And then we did a launch spot,
16:51which was sort of our hero spot,
16:53and that sort of paid off
16:55the teaser campaign.
16:57You've seen the Rookies Journal.
16:58Now here's the crescendo
17:00with Grant.
17:02We built up a demand
17:04so that when we launched it
17:06in March,
17:06the shoe absolutely
17:08blew off the shelves.
17:09I recall being at home
17:13the first Saturday
17:14it was available.
17:15I'm calling footlockers
17:17all over the country.
17:18My wife thought
17:19I was out of my mind.
17:21I'm saying,
17:21hey, do you have
17:22the Grand Hill shoe in stock?
17:23And everybody says,
17:24we sold out of that, man.
17:26And I smile, hang up,
17:28call another one.
17:29I was getting feedback
17:32that the shoe
17:34was doing very well.
17:37You travel,
17:38you go to different cities.
17:39You might go to the mall
17:41and off day.
17:42Man, I see six, seven people
17:44at the mall
17:44and they all have my shoe on.
17:46It translated not only
17:48with the urban,
17:49inner-city crowd,
17:51but then also suburbia.
17:53Suburban kids
17:53assuming everybody
17:55was a fan of the shoe
17:57and everybody
17:57was rocking the shoes.
18:01I think that first year,
18:03every time I put them on,
18:04I was like,
18:04yo, this is crazy.
18:06This whole year,
18:07like, am I dreaming?
18:08Like, is this all happening?
18:11And I don't even think
18:12you have time
18:12to really, like,
18:14stop and just sort of
18:15take in and process
18:16everything that's going
18:18on around you.
18:19And at the time,
18:20it was the highest selling
18:22first signature shoe
18:24of anyone.
18:25get sold more than
18:27Michael, Michael Jordan.
18:32There was this whole
18:34conversation about
18:35who is going to be
18:36the next Michael Jordan.
18:38And along comes Grant Hill.
18:41He had the dazzling
18:42personality, the smile,
18:44the good looks,
18:45and he was one of the most
18:46well-rounded players.
18:49Grant Hill,
18:50a special Brazilian
18:51wear on shoes,
18:52which makes him jump
18:5312 feet.
18:54During his rookie year,
18:55he was just sensational.
18:58All of us at the time,
19:00we were thinking, like,
19:01oh, my God,
19:02Detroit might have
19:03the biggest star
19:04in the NBA.
19:05You know what I heard?
19:06Every time
19:07Grant Hill drinks Spike,
19:08he's not thirsty anymore.
19:13basketball as a global sport
19:17really began to emerge
19:18around that time,
19:20and we ended up using Grant
19:23as a brand ambassador
19:24in Japan,
19:25in Korea,
19:26in the Philippines,
19:28countries all over Europe.
19:31I mean,
19:31we had crowds of 15,000
19:33to 20,000 people show up.
19:35He was a rock star.
19:37He became an icon
19:38and a brand icon
19:39for Fila all over the world.
19:43Michael Jordan retired,
19:45and Grant,
19:45he was portrayed as,
19:48not by us,
19:48but by many in the media
19:50as the next Michael Jordan.
19:53People, media,
19:54whomever kind of thrusted
19:57that onto me
19:57where I'm the next Michael.
20:00You know,
20:00I didn't embrace it.
20:01I didn't deflect it.
20:03I just tried to focus
20:04on being me.
20:06That label, you know,
20:08was there that first year,
20:10and I think part of it
20:11was the play on the court,
20:12but then part of it
20:13was the marketability
20:15off the court.
20:17I mean, you know,
20:17Michael's got the,
20:18you know,
20:19that big split thing
20:20that he does,
20:20you know,
20:21so we don't want to do that.
20:22We want to do something
20:23that feels really good for you,
20:24and something's going to be
20:25possibly a trademark
20:27kind of move along.
20:29Everything throughout
20:31his first year
20:32is success on the court.
20:35His appearance
20:36at the All-Star game,
20:38his winning rookie
20:39of the year.
20:40He was on the cover of GQ,
20:43his man of the year.
20:45At the end of the day,
20:46where the rubber meets the road
20:48is does the shoe sell?
20:50And his shoe
20:51blew off the shelves.
20:52It was not only
20:54the number of pairs of shoes,
20:56it was the velocity
20:57at which the shoe sold.
21:00It's one of the fastest-selling
21:02signature shoes of all time.
21:04I think we realized
21:07at that point,
21:08this guy's for real.
21:11Which then leads to
21:12the Grand Hill 2,
21:14which came out
21:14the following season.
21:15I glide to the hole,
21:19to the hole,
21:20two,
21:21then the lane's closed,
21:23uh-oh,
21:24can't come through,
21:26so go outside,
21:28the shot is there,
21:29touch it.
21:30Not only is everybody
21:31saying you're the next Jordan
21:32in terms of being
21:34the face of the league,
21:35for Grant,
21:37he was already,
21:38and there was a lot of pressure,
21:39just on the basketball front.
21:41Then they're looking
21:41at your shoes like,
21:42oh,
21:43could you be the next one
21:44who,
21:45when we know
21:46your shoe is dropping,
21:47we lining up
21:48around the block
21:48to get it?
21:49Or it becomes, like,
21:50a culturally significant shoe.
21:53As hip-hop started to emerge,
22:00you started to see
22:01street culture
22:02and even hip-hop figures
22:04aspiring to the affluent brands,
22:07and Fila was looked upon
22:08as that.
22:10It gave off the impression
22:11that you had money.
22:13Method Man wore my first
22:15Fila shoe
22:16and a video with Mary J. Blanche.
22:18You know,
22:23it was the Grand Hill Ones.
22:25It was All I Need
22:26was the song.
22:27It was a big song,
22:28and he's wearing them,
22:29and it was, like,
22:30free promo.
22:33A lot of hip-hop artists
22:34wanted to be basketball players.
22:36Basketball players
22:36wanted to be hip-hop artists.
22:38It was a time, I think,
22:39sort of there was
22:40a confluence of hip-hop,
22:42music, culture,
22:44and sports
22:45were all sort of
22:46intertwined.
22:48After my rookie year,
22:55I ended up getting
22:56a car, a Mercedes,
22:58and I wanted to get
22:59some rims,
22:59and I bought some rims
23:01from this rim shop
23:02in Atlanta.
23:05I guess Tupac
23:06was very close
23:07with the guys
23:09who were in the rim shop.
23:11At the time,
23:13he might have been
23:14in jail.
23:16Eventually,
23:16when he got out,
23:17I sent them the shoe
23:19to the guys
23:20who said they would
23:22pass them along
23:23to Tupac.
23:26I don't know
23:27if they actually did,
23:28but then,
23:29lo and behold,
23:30later on,
23:31he's wearing
23:31those shoes
23:33on the album cover.
23:35I remember
23:36the first time
23:36I bought the album,
23:37I opened it up,
23:38I was like,
23:38oh, man,
23:39he's wearing my shoes.
23:41I'm not even sure
23:42if he received them
23:43or not,
23:44or if he was wearing them
23:45because the gesture
23:46on my part,
23:47or if a stylist
23:48gave it to him.
23:48I have no idea,
23:50but it was just
23:51that kind of invisibility,
23:53I think,
23:53on an icon like Tupac.
23:55That was definitely
23:57a signature moment,
23:58for sure.
24:01The Grand Hill 2,
24:02as I recall,
24:03had a nice patent leather
24:04on the outsole,
24:05and patent leather
24:07obviously is more
24:08of a fashion statement.
24:11The whole idea
24:12was how do you
24:13position Grand
24:14as sort of
24:15the counter
24:16to what everybody else
24:18were positioning,
24:19their signature athletes.
24:22Nike had great humor,
24:24they had Spike Lee
24:25with Mars Blackman
24:26and with Jordan,
24:28and Shaq
24:29was this massive guy
24:31who was all about
24:33ripping the rim down
24:34and dunking the basketball
24:35and Grandmama
24:36was this loud,
24:39in-your-face character.
24:41And so we saw
24:42an opportunity
24:43to sort of position Grant
24:45as the antithesis of that.
24:48The idea that NBA stars
24:50could be marketable
24:51well beyond America
24:53was something that
24:54Michael Jordan
24:55really, really took
24:56to another level.
24:57He was able to give them
24:58a bit of a map
24:59in terms of becoming
25:00a global superstar.
25:01So when Grant
25:03became sort of
25:04the face of Sprite,
25:05the face of
25:06a beverage
25:07in this major way
25:09that made those
25:11Jordan comparisons
25:12in terms of marketability,
25:13it made them
25:14that much more
25:14one-to-one.
25:16Right here,
25:17drink Sprite.
25:18Right here,
25:19drink Sprite.
25:20Right here,
25:21right here,
25:21MJ was retired.
25:23There was a void.
25:25We were kind of
25:26entering the era
25:27of, like,
25:27signature shoes.
25:31Michael, I think,
25:32really kind of
25:33set it off.
25:34And I remember
25:35buying his Jordans
25:36his rookie year.
25:37I was in middle school.
25:39Michael really helped
25:41open the door
25:43to the possibility
25:44of being a brand.
25:46We all benefited
25:48from him
25:48sort of being
25:49a trailblazer
25:50in that sense.
25:50It came in
25:52a two-word statement
25:53which is now
25:53just begging
25:54to have a Nike
25:55campaign built
25:56around it.
25:56Quote-unquote,
25:57I'm back.
25:59That's all Jordan
25:59said on Saturday.
26:00That was really
26:01all Jordan
26:01needed to say
26:02as his 17-month
26:03retirement came
26:04to an end.
26:05He will be back
26:06on Sunday
26:06when the Bulls
26:07play the face.
26:08Well, Jordan
26:09had come back
26:09during the season.
26:11By the time
26:12that they ended up
26:12playing the Magic,
26:14he wasn't quite
26:15the Michael Jordan
26:16that we remember
26:17because he had
26:18some rust on him
26:19and he had
26:19to shake that off.
26:21The rest is history.
26:22The Magic beat
26:23the Bulls.
26:25I think if Michael
26:26had been in the groove
26:27the whole season,
26:29I'm not sure
26:30that would have happened.
26:35Well, not many teams
26:36had an answer
26:37for Shaq.
26:40Just the sheer
26:41power of Shaquille,
26:43they just could not
26:44deal with him.
26:46And to have
26:46a dominating
26:47big man
26:48and then a 6'7
26:50point guard
26:51who could do
26:52everything,
26:53teams knew
26:54that they had
26:54to deal with
26:55these two guys
26:55in Orlando
26:56and they were young.
26:57They were only
26:5823, 24 years old.
27:01The whole league
27:02looked at Shaq
27:03and Penny
27:03as that great duo.
27:06I think Penny Hardaway
27:07was the greatest
27:08all-around player
27:09in Magic history
27:10and Shaq
27:10was the most impactful.
27:13It was definitely
27:14kind of an interesting
27:15situation to say,
27:16oh, well, Shaq
27:17is becoming
27:18this larger-than-life
27:19figure and Reebok
27:19has Shaq.
27:22And so how do we
27:23continue to position
27:24Nike as sort of
27:25the battle
27:26for who's coolest
27:27or who's more relevant?
27:30Then it became
27:30clear in that season
27:32that Nike needed
27:33to get behind
27:33Penny Hardaway.
27:35He was this young,
27:36up-and-coming
27:37pheno.
27:38He let his game
27:39speak for himself
27:40in a very soft-spoken,
27:41off-the-court way.
27:42Charles Barkley
27:44told me the other day
27:44that you are
27:45now in that category
27:47that Magic, Bird,
27:49Jordan, himself,
27:50do you know you're there?
27:51I don't think so.
27:52I think I'm
27:53a toughest critic.
27:55Now, I remember
27:55that meeting
27:56with Penny Hardaway.
27:57Brought him into the agency,
27:59I remember distinctly,
28:00and I felt so lucky
28:01to be in that room
28:01and meet the guy.
28:04Penny Hardaway
28:04sat in that meeting,
28:05couldn't have been
28:05any kinder,
28:06and he was clearly
28:08not going to blow
28:08his own horn.
28:10So it struck me,
28:11he needs his own
28:12Mars Blackman.
28:14He needs his own
28:15sidekick.
28:16to be there.
28:25He needs to be in that
28:26boy who ended up
28:27as if he was one
28:27way broke
28:28and he was
28:29and that was
28:30I would have
28:30to catch him
28:31in that room
28:32in Quebec,
28:33he as if he was
28:34as if he could
28:35all of us
28:35and that's
28:35going to Fovo.
28:35He was
28:36him while
28:38he was
28:39coming to zone
28:40and he dreams
28:41and he as if
28:43Möglichkeit
28:43he was
28:44eating
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