Page 115 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Winter 2015

advertising low-topped, spiked, lace-up shoes for jump- Massachusetts, area since 1906. The company appar-
ing, hurdling, and cross-country running. Spurred by the ently had excess manufacturing capacity and decided to
Olympic movement, which included the running of the use it to produce a running shoe in 1961. The produc-
marathon, Spalding Company developed a “marathon tion team developed a shoe that was unlike anything
shoe” for long distance running by 1909. The durabil- seen previously. Using knowledge gained from ortho-
ity of these shoes was extremely limited because of the pedic shoes and input from runners (including Johnny
materials used. Early shoes had gum soles that were very Kelly, a legendary Boston Marathon runner), they cre-
quickly worn out and later versions had an all-leather ated a shoe called the “Trackster” (Figure 1D). This is
outsole that had very uneven wear. 4–6 considered the first modern running shoe and the one
that had the most influence on subsequent running shoe
In 1844, Charles Goodyear in the United States and technology. The Trackster had no internal seams, and
Thomas Hancock in England patented a process called had an elevated heel wedge, a wider toe box, and a “rip-
vulcanization. Among other things, this process allowed ple sole.” The shoes were produced in different widths
the melding of rubber and fiber together. In 1892, and New Balance initially sold the shoe directly from
Goodyear’s son and several other inventors and inves- its Boston location because shoe distributors could not
tors established the US Rubber Company, which began handle the great variety of sizes in their inventories. 4,13
manufacturing more than 30 types of shoes. In 1917, US
Rubber created a shoe called Keds, which had a canvas In Japan after the Second World War, the Onitsuka
upper attached to a vulcanized rubber sole that had a Company was established by Kihachiro Onitsuka; this
tread pattern. Some versions of Keds were advertised company was later to become Asics. Phil Knight, a miler
as athletic shoes, as shown in Figure 1B. They were at the University of Oregon, was impressed with the
popularly known as “sneakers” because they were quiet quality of the Onitsuka Tiger shoe and visited Japan in
when the user was walking. 5,7–9 1963. Knight captivated the Onitsuka Company owners
and became a sales agent for the Onitsuka Tiger shoe
The person most often credited with the development (Figure 1E) in the United States. Bill Bowerman was
of the modern athletic shoes is Adolf Dassler. After he Knight’s coach at the University of Oregon. Bowerman
returned from action in the First World War, he started was an innovative thinker and had been using his shoe-
making running shoes with his brother, Rudolph. By making skills to make specialized footwear for his ath-
1936, Dassler’s running shoes were considered the best letes long before Knight’s visit to Japan. Knight worked
on the market and were worn by many athletes, includ- with Bowerman to establish a company called Blue Rib-
ing Jesse Owens, who won at least one Olympic gold bon Sports, and this company was later to become Nike.
medal while wearing them. In 1937, the Dassler brothers Working with the Onitsuka Company, Bowerman and
had 30 different shoes for 11 different sports. Innova- Knight produced a line of Tiger long-distance running
tions include arch support lacing and a form of speed lac- shoes including the “Roadrunner” and “Marathon.”
ing. In 1948, Dassler founded the Addas company that Other pioneering changes developed by Bowerman in-
later became Adidas, while his brother founded Puma. 5,7 cluded a continuous midsole (rather than a wedge, as in
the Trackster) and nylon and mesh uppers that could be
The Converse Rubber Company was founded in Mal- easily cleaned and provided ventilation. In 1972, Bow-
den, Massachusetts, in 1908 by Marquis Mills Converse; erman experimented by pouring urethane into a waffle
the company’s initial product was galoshes, a winterized iron and developed the Nike Waffle (Figure 1F). The
rubber-soled shoe. In 1921, a popular basketball player shoe weighed approximately 4 ounces, and it shortly
named Chuck Taylor began working for Converse. In became a best seller in the United States. 4,5,14
1932, he became the first athlete to endorse a shoe when
he added his name to the Converse All-Stars, a shoe with Additional innovations in the 1970s included the intro-
a rubber bottom and high-topped canvas upper (Fig- duction of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and the devel-
ure 1C). In 1936, the “Converse Chucks” became the opment of air cushions. In 1974, the Brooks running
official shoe of the US basketball team. As sports and shoe company (which was established in 1914) began
exercise proliferated in the United States in the 1930s experimenting with EVA. EVA was produced by a high-
to 1950, many individuals began wearing this iconic pressure chemical process that trapped gas bubbles in
shoe for many sports, including running. In 1962, Wilt the material. This “closed-cell foam” was lighter than
Chamberlin of the Philadelphia Warriors scored 100 rubber and a better shock absorber. In 1975, The
points while wearing Converse Chucks in a 169–147 Brooks “Villanova” was the first to use EVA for its
victory over the New York Knicks. 10–13 midsole and wedge, and a few years later, virtually all
running shoes were using this material. Another inno-
The New Balance Company (first called the Riley Com- vation was the development of “air-cushioned shoes.”
pany) had been making orthopedic shoes in the Boston, Taking ideas from the National Aeronautics and Space

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