Michael Jordan changed the sneaker industry in 1984 when he decided to go with Nike as his brand of choice. Despite Converse being the official shoe of the NBA and having a chokehold over the performance sneaker market at the time with guys like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird promoting them, Nike snuck in between the seams.
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Jordan initially didn’t want to sign with Nike. Nike had a reputation for being more of a track-and-field performance brand, rather than a basketball one. MJ was enamored by Adidas at the time and didn’t even want to attend the Nike meeting until his parents, James and Deloris, forced him to.
Michael’s agent, David Falk, negotiated several terms of their sneaker deal, with the main one being that Nike had to release a shoe specifically for his client. The man who was on the receiving end of hearing Falk conjure up the now iconic ‘Air Jordan’ name was Howard White.
Charles Barkley on Howard White
With the release of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s ‘Air’, a movie about how Nike signed Michael Jordan, Ben took to the Steam Room podcast with Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson to discuss it.
In between, Chuck would talk about how Chris Tucker would call him and ask him about what Howard White was like, the man who he was playing in the movie. In response, Barkley said:
“White is like the uncle, the older brother, father figure to me and Michael. Every time you screw up, he’ll call you. He’s always got your back. Every time you do something stupid, which, I did more stupid stuff than Michael, he’s coming to visit and he’ll break your balls but he’s always positive when he does it.”
Charles Barkley signed with Nike in 1992 and would famously reject Reebok’s offer to sign with them. When asked about what swayed him towards Nike, he said he had ‘2 million reasons’ to go with them, very blatantly referencing Nike’s $2 million offer to him.
Howard White on what stood out about Michael Jordan
Howard White is one of the few individuals in the world who can safely say has seen firsthand how Michael Jordan went from being a junior at UNC to becoming the greatest player in the history of the NBA. White knew right away he had something special with MJ based off one aspect of his game.
“He jumped, that was the big thing then. And so it all king of really came together. How could this young man take us to another realm of sport?”
