White and black. Yin and yang. The story of the opposites in a shoe that inspires rebellion in a classy sport.
Nike’s founder, Phil Knight, transitioned to tennis from the 1970s running uprising. At a time when runners were fighting against the status quo and displaying it with a different and daring style, Knight discovered a latent rebelliousness beneath the apparent traditionalism of tennis.
John McEnroe, a tennis player at Stanford University, where Phil Knight graduated, was at the epicentre of that disobedience. A wild, irascible, unpredictable guy with rock ambitions and an interest in art that led him to become an inquisitive collector. McEnroe perfectly embodied the Nike image established shortly before by Steve Prefontaine, the runner whose death in 1975 made him legendary.
McEnroe was, in many ways, the testing ground for some of the ideas we later saw in Jordan. And it is not by chance. Jordan’s original designer, Peter Moore, had also created posters, logos, and shoes for McEnroe and was even the president of his fan club. His signature model was the Nike Mac Attack, a representation of his personality that, like Jordan, challenged the traditional color barrier in tennis.
The Nike Mac Attack went from the original grey to black and white due to the uniform policy of the All England Tennis Club, the organiser of the Wimbledon tournament, which was somewhat more relaxed than the current one. Nike and John McEnroe demonstrated their character by mixing opposites in a sea of white shoes.
John McEnroe is currently the longest-serving Nike athlete, and his shoes, which are now worn by LeBron James and Travis Scott, conceal his unbreakable spirit.
The Nike Mac Attack Black & White is now available at FOOTDISTRICT.
