Philosophy
Today would be the 108th birthday of Chuck Taylor, possibly the greatest shoe salesman in history. The Chuck Taylor hightop sneaker is every bit the American fashion icon as the Levi 501 or the leather bomber jacket.
A turn of the century basketball player of little reknown, Chuck Taylor designed a shoe that would support the ankle and convinced Converse to manufacture them. Joining the company, he travelled non-stop, moving from little town to big town convincing local high school and college coaches to co-sponsor clinics where they would provide the instruction and he would sell the shoes.
So wide and far were his travels and so magnetic was his personality that he became a force in the basketball world connecting rising playing and coaching prospects with different programs. Of course, once Chuck Taylor helped you get a spot on the team or better yet a better job, you were more than happy to bring him into your new home and give him a platform to sell his sneakers.
While no serious athlete today would prefer them over the highly engineered athletic footware, there is something funky and campy that will keep Chucks from ever going out of style.
Happy birthday, Chuck Taylor.
- The Feast Of Saint Lou
Friends, This week we celebrate the feast of Saint Bud. Born Louis Francis Cristillo, he grew up in Paterson, New Jersey, a tough town where he was a well known basketball player and an amateur boxer before becoming turning to show biz. He got a few jobs...
- Happy Birthday Lance Armstrong
Yesterday was Lance Armstrong's 37th birthday. Truly one of the great stories of recent years is his beating cancer and returning to become possibly the greatest racer ever. Accusations of doping remain as they will for everyone of the last decade...
- Darwin's Dangerous Idea - Body & Soul
It took Darwin about twenty years to publish the theory that made him feel like he was confessing to a murder (God's perhaps?), but how did he come to articulate the theory in his own mind? His voyage in the HMS Beagle had a lot to do with it, certainly,...
- Deceased--chuck Foley
Chuck Foley September 6th, 1930 to July 1st, 2013 "Chuck Foley, Co-Creator of the Game Twister, Dies at 82" by Margalit Fox July 11th, 2013 The New York Times Chuck Foley, a game designer who helped inaugurate a craze that rivaled the hula hoop, scandalized...
- Isis...take A Look At The Invisible
"We see matter in a different way," Andrew Taylor explains. "Neutrons see the nucleus of the atom. X-rays see the electrons. 'Super-microscope' opens at Isis...
Philosophy
Happy Birthday Chuck Taylor
Today would be the 108th birthday of Chuck Taylor, possibly the greatest shoe salesman in history. The Chuck Taylor hightop sneaker is every bit the American fashion icon as the Levi 501 or the leather bomber jacket.
A turn of the century basketball player of little reknown, Chuck Taylor designed a shoe that would support the ankle and convinced Converse to manufacture them. Joining the company, he travelled non-stop, moving from little town to big town convincing local high school and college coaches to co-sponsor clinics where they would provide the instruction and he would sell the shoes.
So wide and far were his travels and so magnetic was his personality that he became a force in the basketball world connecting rising playing and coaching prospects with different programs. Of course, once Chuck Taylor helped you get a spot on the team or better yet a better job, you were more than happy to bring him into your new home and give him a platform to sell his sneakers.
While no serious athlete today would prefer them over the highly engineered athletic footware, there is something funky and campy that will keep Chucks from ever going out of style.
Happy birthday, Chuck Taylor.
- The Feast Of Saint Lou
Friends, This week we celebrate the feast of Saint Bud. Born Louis Francis Cristillo, he grew up in Paterson, New Jersey, a tough town where he was a well known basketball player and an amateur boxer before becoming turning to show biz. He got a few jobs...
- Happy Birthday Lance Armstrong
Yesterday was Lance Armstrong's 37th birthday. Truly one of the great stories of recent years is his beating cancer and returning to become possibly the greatest racer ever. Accusations of doping remain as they will for everyone of the last decade...
- Darwin's Dangerous Idea - Body & Soul
It took Darwin about twenty years to publish the theory that made him feel like he was confessing to a murder (God's perhaps?), but how did he come to articulate the theory in his own mind? His voyage in the HMS Beagle had a lot to do with it, certainly,...
- Deceased--chuck Foley
Chuck Foley September 6th, 1930 to July 1st, 2013 "Chuck Foley, Co-Creator of the Game Twister, Dies at 82" by Margalit Fox July 11th, 2013 The New York Times Chuck Foley, a game designer who helped inaugurate a craze that rivaled the hula hoop, scandalized...
- Isis...take A Look At The Invisible
"We see matter in a different way," Andrew Taylor explains. "Neutrons see the nucleus of the atom. X-rays see the electrons. 'Super-microscope' opens at Isis...