The Jumpman
This is one of Nike's first advertisements before the release of what we call the WORLDS most popular shoe, Air Jordan. This moment and time when this concept for the photo shoot was taking place I was still rocking shell toe Adidas, Michael's first choice in shoes.. bet you didn't know that. I am proud to say I have this original poster since the day it was released. This logo is one of the most recognizable logos known to man.
For almost 20 years now the Jumpman has been selling sneakers, shirts, hats, socks, wrist bands, back packs, and anything else Nike could attach a Jumpman to.
Slap a Jumpman on a dried up piece of dog crap and i'll bet you that #%*@ will sell!
But this didn't happen overnight...
Let's travel back to 1984 and re-trace the path of the now Infamous Jumpman logo.
The Jumpman logo is actually a silhouette of studio photograph of Mike performing a ballet move, not an actual dunk as the image suggests.
Here's part of an interview with HOOP Magazine from April of 1997 where Mike talks about the creation of the Jumpman Logo.
**Michael Jordan**
"I wasn't even dunking on that one.
People think that I was.
I just stood on the floor, jumped up and spread my legs and they took the picture.
I wasn't even running.
Everyone thought I did that by running and taking off. Actually, it was a ballet move where I jumped up and spread my legs.
And I was holding the ball in my left hand."
Slap a Jumpman on a dried up piece of dog crap and i'll bet you that #%*@ will sell!
But this didn't happen overnight...
Let's travel back to 1984 and re-trace the path of the now Infamous Jumpman logo.
The Jumpman logo is actually a silhouette of studio photograph of Mike performing a ballet move, not an actual dunk as the image suggests.
Here's part of an interview with HOOP Magazine from April of 1997 where Mike talks about the creation of the Jumpman Logo.
**Michael Jordan**
"I wasn't even dunking on that one.
People think that I was.
I just stood on the floor, jumped up and spread my legs and they took the picture.
I wasn't even running.
Everyone thought I did that by running and taking off. Actually, it was a ballet move where I jumped up and spread my legs.
And I was holding the ball in my left hand."
Not many people know that the original idea for the photo shoot of the Jumpman came from an older photo of Mike in Life Magazine for the 1984 Olympics. This is where the inspiration came from then the shoe came about. It's so amazing how things can be turned in to one of the worlds most recognized logos to man kind.
This is the rarely seen photo that started it all.
Nike "sampled" the idea for a poster featuring Mike suspended in air for what would later become the now famous Jumpman logo.
This photo was first featured on the hang tags of all the original Air Jordan I's from 1985... Nike had made exclusive colors in the first pair of Jordan's what we like to call the ones! yea these are the ones in deed. My first pair of these particular ones came in black and orange in what we called in the hood * Halloween Jordan's*
But the actual Jumpman logo didn't join the mix for another 3 years.
Fast forward to 1988...
Mike's contract with Nike was about to finish.
Rob Strasser Nike's VP was in a power struggle with Nike CEO Phil Knight. Rob and Peter Moore, Nike's head designer, were secretly hatching a plan to lure Mike away from Nike to their new sneaker company called Van Grack.
Peter originally did the preliminary design work on the Air Jordan III.
He had a pile of sketches of the Air Jordan III but waited until it was too late to execute.
When he left Nike, Tinker Hatfield got the sketches and in amongst it were the outline of the Air Jordan Jumpman logo.
Since 1985, Nike sales have jumped through the roof and Phil Knight (Nike's CEO) was not about to lose Mike that easily.
He gave Tinker the task of presenting the next AJ III to Mike.
Both Tinker and Ron Dumas designed the entire AJ III line in a matter of weeks.
At the Air Jordan III presentation, Mike was ready to leave Nike, so this was Nike's chance to show and prove.When Tinker said that he has a sample pair of the AJ III, Mike's eyes lit up! I can only imagine how Mike felt when he saw the Jumpan logo on the front of his own shoe. If I could have any moment in my time it would of been to see the look on Mike's face when he saw the first sample pair. *classic*
Once Mike saw that luxurious tumbled leather wrapped in elephant print with that big, beautiful, fire red Jumpman logo on the tounge, that was it, Mike was in love and so was I. That is why till this day the Jordan 3's will always be my favorite shoe and Jordan ever made! I have yet to see another shoe compare to the style, look and feel of these shoes. In my opinion these are the brightest and cleanest shoes ever. Even cleaner then a all white AF1. I will never forget when Jordan wore them on the court Thanksgiving weekend and then took flight to the all star game to win the slam dunk contest. So much about the 3's that I can not explain.
Nike then added Spike Lee to the mix and the rest is history, not only did MJ and Spike impact the world with there great ideas in the Air Jordan commercials, I also appreciated MJ was good friends with a guy named MARS haaa..
From the commercials, the dunk contest, the scoring titles, the MVP's, the buzzer beaters, the heart breaking losses, the championships, the retirement, the come back, the 72 and 10 season, the tap on the $!#, nothing but net goose neck with 6.6 on shot clock...
What a ride!
By the end of Mike's career with the Bulls, the Jumpman was strong enough live outside of the shadow of big brother Nike and Brand Jordan soared to new heights.
From a quick Life Time Magazine photoshoot to a CEO of a multi-million dollar company Michael Jordan will always be one of my biggest inspirations. \\//
Once Mike saw that luxurious tumbled leather wrapped in elephant print with that big, beautiful, fire red Jumpman logo on the tounge, that was it, Mike was in love and so was I. That is why till this day the Jordan 3's will always be my favorite shoe and Jordan ever made! I have yet to see another shoe compare to the style, look and feel of these shoes. In my opinion these are the brightest and cleanest shoes ever. Even cleaner then a all white AF1. I will never forget when Jordan wore them on the court Thanksgiving weekend and then took flight to the all star game to win the slam dunk contest. So much about the 3's that I can not explain.
Nike then added Spike Lee to the mix and the rest is history, not only did MJ and Spike impact the world with there great ideas in the Air Jordan commercials, I also appreciated MJ was good friends with a guy named MARS haaa..
From the commercials, the dunk contest, the scoring titles, the MVP's, the buzzer beaters, the heart breaking losses, the championships, the retirement, the come back, the 72 and 10 season, the tap on the $!#, nothing but net goose neck with 6.6 on shot clock...
What a ride!
By the end of Mike's career with the Bulls, the Jumpman was strong enough live outside of the shadow of big brother Nike and Brand Jordan soared to new heights.
From a quick Life Time Magazine photoshoot to a CEO of a multi-million dollar company Michael Jordan will always be one of my biggest inspirations. \\//
