His flashy footwork won over him.
Since then, simple footwear has won him everything.
“The shoes had their own life,” 78 is the king of all tennis sneakers sold by over 100 million people, along with its eponymous timeless lines and leather uppers. “People from all life have embraced them.”
Naturally, Smith has a business head to fit his feet into tennis.
With that in mind, he and longtime business partner Gary Nieber wrote the newly released “Victory Trust: How to Create a Critical Moment,” which aims to help readers develop stronger relationships with their clients, with tips that they can apply to personal relationships and sports.
“The book is about building relationships that can enhance the element of trust, a depreciable asset in the world today,” Smith told a call from the Open in France.
When it comes to building and maintaining high stakes relationships, Smith and Nieber distilled the process into five key elements called serves, a recurring theme throughout the book. This is the acronym for Strategize, Engage, Recreate, Volley and Elevate.
For example, Recreate means building bonds through fun shared experiences, like recreation, and volley means moving back and forth between ideas to find a solution.
“When people realize you’re more interested in relationships than dealing,” Nieber said, “the trust continues.”
Pasadena High and former USC standout Smith were recent best friends, UCLA legends, adorning major stadium courts in Flushing Meadows, New York.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Ash’s victory at Wimbledon, beating the much-loved Jimmy Connors in the 1975 final. Ash is the only black man to win a singles title in that storied tournament.
“Arthur was a good friend,” Smith said. “He’s had a huge impact and more impact in the past few years of his life when he was fighting AIDS and the Heart Fund, and because of his obvious equal rights.”
Ash, who suffered HIV from a blood transfusion he received during a heart bypass surgery, passed away in 1993. He was four years older than Smith, but the two developed close friendships when they travelled to Grove as Davis Cup teammates and ascending experts.
Smith has vivid memories of traveling with him. Ash is forever buried in newspapers and magazines in “Citizens of the World” T-shirts. Smith was ranked number one in the US at the time. It was two spots for his companions, but the extremely popular Ash always got the best bill.
“When we went to Africa, I was the other guy who played him at all these exhibitions,” Smith told The Times in 2018.
Smith is laughing about it now, but it rubbed him. Finally, he raised the issue with his partner.
I remembered Smith in a 2018 interview. “Arthur came over to me and said, ‘I’m sorry. If I do a tour of Alabama, I’ll carry a racket for you.” He was tailored to everything.
“Arthur has been a quiet leader who traditionally walks the tightrope between white sports and the black community.”
Smith will be at Wimbledon next month. There, his UCLA friends are respected.
As for his shoes, they’re everywhere, and since the 1970s. Adidas originally developed shoes for French player Robert Heilet in the mid-1960s, and the sneakers were known as “Heilet.”
In 1972, the company switched to Smith, naming the shoes in honor of the shoes and printed a small photo of a mustache-like face. There were subtle changes to Hallett. For example, there was a notch in the tongue that allowed it to pass by, and a heel that was better shaped to protect the Achilles tendon.
They sold like crazy. In 1988, Stan Smith created the Guinness World Records Book with the most pairs sold for 22 million. But that was just the beginning as sales spiked with the releases of the Stan Smith II and Retro Stan Smith ’80s. The most common was solid white with a green touch on the back.
“Hugh Grant turned around at the Royal Box last year (Wimbledon) and said, ‘The first girl I kissed, I was wearing your shoes,'” Smith told The Times in 2022.
“It started out as tennis shoes. Now it’s fashion shoes.”
Smith’s personal collection has climbed over 100 size 13 in all kinds of colors, including his favorite pair at Cardinal and Black, a homage to USC roots.
In 2022, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Smith’s Wimbledon singles title, Adidas gave all sponsored players SW19 shoes, including SW19 on their tongues.
At Wimbledon this year, the spotlight is swept across the other side of Los Angeles, heading towards the unforgettable Bruin, a sports hero who has affected so many lives.
For Smith, his friendship with Ash was an early example of his career in a relationship that was misled by trust.
Incidentally, this book has a unique, fitted page marker.
Shoe laces.
