Over the past few years, most of the major footwear brands have used MLK Day as a debut date for their Black History Month shoes by various NBA players. But before that, certain footwear companies made MLK Day-specific shoes for players to wear on the federal holiday. Today, we take a look back at the shoes that were created, not for Black History Month, but exclusively for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.<\/p>\n
Player<\/strong>: Kobe Bryant The “MLK” Kobe IV was a Quickstrike release in 2009 and is one of the most limited colorways of Kobe Bryant’s fourth signature shoe.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Player<\/strong>: Kobe Bryant, Rudy Gay, Others Nike created player exclusives for its brand members that featured a grey foil-like base combined with black, green and red accents. Although the shoes looked great, the Pan-Africanism color scheme brought about an issue seeing that Pan-Africanism centers around a belief which seeks to unite native African heritage into a worldwide society. However, MLK sought to end racism in America instead of uniting African heritage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Player<\/strong>: Monta Ellis Monta Ellis was the recipient of this shoe created in honor of MLK. It featured premium materials in the form of white tumbled leather, a gum sole and a special MLK message woven onto the inner side of the tongue.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Player<\/strong>: DeAndre Jordan DeAndre Jordan laced up this Under Armour Bionic Spine PE on MLK Day in 2013 during a matchup between the\u00a0Los Angeles Clippers and the Golden State Warriors. The shoe features the word\u00a0“Dream” across the tongue and on the sockliner.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Player<\/strong>: Ray Allen Ray Allen honored the late African American leader with a special Air Jordan 12 PE in 2011. His PE featured a black and gold\u00a0color scheme with Allen\u2019s \u2018Sugar Ray\u2019 tagline stitched on the heels of each shoe.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Player<\/strong>: Stephen Curry Just last year, Stephen Curry wore this silver, red and black colorway of the Under Armour Anatomix Spawn on MLK Day. The shoe features a metallic silver, splatter-like design on the majority of the upper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the past few years, most of the major footwear brands have used MLK Day as a debut date for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4667,"featured_media":428109,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[835,1219126],"tags":[1225551],"cultivate_rss":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nShoe Model<\/strong>: Nike Zoom Kobe IV
\nYear Worn<\/strong>: 2009
\nColor Scheme<\/strong>: White, Purple and Gold<\/p>\n
\nShoe Model<\/strong>: Nike Zoom Kobe V, Nike Zoom Sharkalaid, etc.
\nYear Worn<\/strong>: 2010
\nColor Scheme<\/strong>: Grey, Red and Green<\/p>\n
\nShoe Model<\/strong>: AND1 ME8
\nYear Worn<\/strong>: 2009
\nColor Scheme<\/strong>: White and Brown<\/p>\n
\nShoe Model<\/strong>: Under Armour Bionic Spine
\nYear Worn<\/strong>: 2013
\nColor Scheme<\/strong>: Brown and Gold<\/p>\n
\nShoe Model<\/strong>: Air Jordan 12
\nYear Worn<\/strong>: 2011
\nColor Scheme<\/strong>: Black and Gold<\/p>\n
\nShoe Model<\/strong>: Under Armour Anatomix Spawn
\nYear Worn<\/strong>: 2014
\nColor Scheme<\/strong>: Silver, Black and Red<\/p>\n