Jesse Owens was a racial barrier shattering track star, earning four Gold medals at the 1936 Olympics. In honor of his myriad accomplishments, the adidas Black History Month collection pays homage to the iconic athlete.
Says adidas:
The facts are simple, Jesse Owens was the most famous track and field athlete of all time, and in 1950 when the Associated Press conducted a poll to determine the greatest track and field athlete of the first half of the 20th-century, the results didn’t even come close – Owens by a landslide.
Raised in Ohio with Alabama roots, it was in the span of 45 minutes on one single afternoon on May 25, 1935, at the Big Ten Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan that Owens electrified the sports world with the greatest one-man, one-day performance the sport had ever known – breaking three world records and tying a fourth.
One year later, at the 1936 Berlin summer games, Owens became a groundbreaking athlete and symbol for social justice and equality after a historic performance where he became the first American track & field athlete to win four gold medals in a single games, all while under tremendous global tension.
Coincidentally, Owens earned his Gold medals wearing adidas tracks spikes made for him buy the brand’s founder Adi Dassler.
The adidas Black History Month collection features the D Rose 6, D Lillard 2 and Crazylight Boost 2.5 which will be worn by Derrick Rose, Damian Lillard and James Harden respectively during Martin Luther King, Jr. Day games and throughout February.
The kicks are draped in a cream and brown colorway with gold highlights (each model has its own unique aesthetics). Details include Owens’ bib number, 733, in gold foil on the tongue and 1936 printed in the sockliner.
Check out detailed images of the adidas Black History Month below and on the flip.
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Photos: adidas Basketball
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