{"id":226157,"date":"2012-07-30T18:43:04","date_gmt":"2012-07-30T23:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nicekicks.com\/?p=226157"},"modified":"2022-09-12T18:36:05","modified_gmt":"2022-09-12T23:36:05","slug":"olympic-diaries-1992-patrick-ewing-talks-return-of-ewing-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/olympic-diaries-1992-patrick-ewing-talks-return-of-ewing-athletics\/","title":{"rendered":"Olympic Diaries (1992): Patrick Ewing Speaks on Why It’s the “Perfect Time” to Relaunch Ewing Athletics"},"content":{"rendered":"
“It?s back. It?s coming out fresh. It?s a great shoe. I endorse it, and the price point is right. The retros are just like the originals, quality-wise. I want people to come out and see the quality for themselves.”<\/em> – Patrick Ewing<\/p>\n Patrick Ewing<\/strong> has returned.<\/p>\n Sure, it’s been years on top of years since he was the center of attention in every Knicks scenario you can think of – like the Knicks vs. Bulls postseason match ups that were undoubtedly some of the most competitive and entertaining games ever, or the Knicks vs. Heat playoff battles that wouldn’t be complete without 5-10 technical fouls, 2-3 fights and 3-4 ejections – whether he was directly involved or not. 50 years of age is literally right around the corner (he turns 50 Sunday), and his reign as New York’s hero is 12 years behind him. Yet, in 2012, all it took was a mention of the Ewing Athletics<\/strong> brand returning to get Patrick’s name buzzing as if he himself was reentering the center-starved NBA.<\/p>\n As the 1992 installment of our Olympic Diaries<\/em> series, Patrick Ewing discusses the historic launch of Ewing Athletics, the anticipated relaunch of the brand, memorable moments in the NBA and as part of the Dream Team, and a special trend he made hot while at Georgetown.<\/p>\n Ewing Athletics 33 Hi Retro Red\/Black\n Snkrs Day: Let’s go back in time to when this first started. After you and adidas went in different directions, what prompted you to start your own brand? Patrick Ewing: Well, I played in adidas for two years, specifically during the 1986 and 1987 seasons. adidas and I had a difference of opinion, and I thought it was time to move on at that point. I met a guy named Roberto Mueller, who started the PONY footwear brand back in the day. He convinced me to start, along with him, my own shoe company, which was Ewing Athletics. He had some great ideas from jump, so I thought about it long and hard and we started to invent it.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: Why relaunch the Ewing Athletics brand now and kick it off with the 33 Hi? Patrick Ewing: So many people have came up to me over the years saying, ‘Man, I loved your shoes, and I wore them a lot when I was a little kid. When are they coming back?’ So, I just figured it was about that time to bring them back. I held off for a long time, and had a lot of people in my ear begging me to bring them back, but I think it’s time now to bring them back and give the public what they want. I really liked every single one of my shoes, including the 33 Hi, and at some point each and every one will come back depending on how the 33 Hi Retro is received.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: <\/strong>What influenced your move from Next Sports to the distribution team you’re working with now?<\/strong><\/p>\n Patrick Ewing: Well, Next Sports was one of the distributors of my shoe, and they did some things, such as putting their name on the shoe when it wasn’t supposed to be there, that I didn’t like. Ewing Athletics was the parent company, and so, the reason I switched to the new people is because they’ve been trying to get me to come out with my shoes for the longest. They’re really good people and fans of my brand.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: This is a time where it seems low-cut shoes are the norm, but that’s totally different from when you were in the prime of your career. Why is it a good time to bring a high-top back in the midst of this low-top craze? Patrick Ewing: Back then, people wouldn’t dare play in low-top shoes. If you were to wear a low-top shoe back then, you’d probably have a lot of ankle problems. Most big guys stick to high-top shoes, but a lot of guys today, like Kobe and LeBron, wear low-cut shoes. I’ve always preferred the high cut, and in my opinion high-tops are coming back. It’s all about the ankle support.<\/p>\n Vintage Ewing Athletics Brand poster\n <\/p>\n Snkrs Day: Talk of the relaunch has garnered a lot of interest lately, but when did you first notice the wide acceptance of your shoe line during its initial release? Patrick Ewing: I noticed it through hip-hop and during my career in New York. New York is where hip-hop was generated, and me playing there helped my shoes out a lot. Hip-hop started here in the grassroots, so naturally a lot of those guys, like Run-D.M.C. and Jam Master Jay, picked up on them and liked what the Ewing Athletics brand brought to the table. In my opinion, my shoes grew from there.<\/p>\n Run-D.M.C. wearing the Ewing Athletics 33 Hi on the “Faces\/Back From Hell (Remix)” single cover\n Snkrs Day: From there, it seemed as if the city of New York affirmed it. Patrick Ewing: Yeah, they connected with it and me as a player. I think they saw a mirror image of themselves. I was a blue-collar type of player. I brought my heart, my hardhat and my lunch pal to Madison Square Garden every single night. I wasn’t going to take any nonsense. I was a hard-nosed, hard-working player, and that’s how I view the people of New York City, so we connected with each other.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: These days, it seems as if the players have a lot of say in the design of their signature shoes. Were you heavily involved in the creative process of your shoes? Patrick Ewing: I wasn’t really involved in the actual design of the shoe, but?I was sent a lot of sketches of the shoes during the process. Out of all the makeups that were sent to me, I decided which ones I liked and which ones I would wear. Those are the ones you saw me play in and the ones that will come back.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: With it being Olympic season, the Eclipse Hi has been mentioned as a shoe people would like to see return. Patrick Ewing: I loved the look of that shoe, man, and it was a very, very comfortable. I really liked the fact that it was very patriotic in regards to the color scheme. It was probably the most patriotic shoe I ever wore. I just thought it was a really great shoe, and I liked the feel of it. Depending on how the 33 Hi Retro is received, you might see the Eclipse return.<\/p>\n Ewing Athletics Eclipse Hi “USA”\n <\/p>\n Snkrs Day: There will be no 1992 vs. 2012 questions today, but what was your most memorable moment as part of the Dream Team? Patrick Ewing: The biggest thing for me was just being there and seeing how we were treated. We were rock stars. We were The Beatles. We were The Jacksons, and it was so many crowds of people. We were happy to be around each other and we got to know each other more. We pushed each other, and we were just there balling and having fun. The whole experience of being around all of those great players helped all of us when we went back to our own teams.<\/p>\n Patrick Ewing with the 1992 Dream Team\n Snkrs Day: Besides the roster, what was the biggest difference from playing in the 1984 Olympics and the 1992 Olympics? Patrick Ewing: Well, we still had some incredible players on that ’84 team, such as myself, Michael and Chris Mullin. In ’84, the Olympics were in Los Angeles, and that was the biggest difference; getting a chance to play on U.S. soil. Even though that team wasn’t as heralded as the Dream Team, we still had a great team. In ’92, we were much better players than we were in ’84, and we were bigger in stature.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: Your stature was still pretty big at that time though. Everyone knew you as one of the top centers in the college ranks, and we can’t forget about the shirt under your jersey at Georgetown. What inspired you to do that? Patrick Ewing: I wasn’t the one who started that trend, but I was the one who made it popular. I was one of the biggest names at Georgetown at the time, and Georgetown was one of the most popular teams back in those days. Naturally, everything that we did, the world took notice – the black community, especially. We were a predominately black team, and the people associated themselves with us, so every little trend we did, they noticed it and associated it with us. Even with the Terminators – it was just a shoe that they gave us to play ball in. Back then, you just wore what they gave you. Now, people really love those. They looked good, and the color scheme was crazy, but we didn’t know it would be that big.<\/p>\n Patrick Ewing as a member of the Georgetown Hoyas\n Snkrs Day: Georgetown is also where the birth of the Ewing vs. Jordan match ups began. What did going up against MJ do for you competitive-wise throughout your basketball career?<\/strong><\/p>\n Patrick Ewing: Well, Michael is a highly competitive guy, and I’m the same way. Although we were very good friends, we tried to kill each other every time we stepped on the court. Unfortunately, he beat me more than I beat him, but it was very good competition.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: You also went up against some of the best centers to ever play the game during your career, and most of them had signature lines. Is there one you admired from afar?<\/strong><\/p>\n Patrick Ewing: Definitely, Hakeem and Shaq. People see Shaq right now and don’t remember how athletic he was back in the day. When he first came to the league, this man was seven-foot, 300 something pounds. He was very athletic, very agile, very strong and he could run. All of those guys – Alonzo, David Robinson Mutombo were tough to go up against, but those two guys gave me the most problems. As for shoes, we admired each other’s shoes from a distance, but we were really focused on kicking butts and taking names.<\/p>\n Snkrs Day: Lastly, fill in the blank. The Ewing Athletics brand is ______. Patrick Ewing: <\/strong>It’s back. It’s coming out fresh. It’s a great shoe. I endorse it, and the price point is right. The retros are just like the originals, quality-wise.? I want people to come out and see the quality for themselves.<\/p>\n Ewing Athletics 33 Hi Retro Lineup\n <\/p>\n Patrick Ewing commemorative coin\n Ewing Athletics Eclipse Hi “USA”\n Ewing Athletics Eclipse Hi “USA”\n Ewing Athletics Eclipse Hi “USA”\n Ewing Athletics Eclipse Hi “USA”\n Ewing Athletics Eclipse Hi “USA”\n Ewing Athletics Eclipse Hi “USA”\n Ewing Athletics Eclipse Hi “USA”\n Throughout the Olympic Diaries<\/em> series, follow author George Kiel III on Twitter at @geokthree<\/a> for updates.<\/p>\n
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