Global Sports Brand PUMA is bringing back Ralph Sampson’s signature footwear – the mid version of the silhouette.
A basketball legend from the ’80s, Ralph Sampson played for The Houston Rockets, and as the first pick of the NBA Draft in ’83, he averaged 21.0 points and 11.1 rebounds, winning Rookie of the Year in ’84 and NBA All-Star Game MVP in ’85.
Sampson used to have trouble finding shoes that would fit his feet growing up – the PUMA Ralph Sampson, custom made for the court with mid-height construction for ankle support and a lightweight design for speed and agility. Proving the shoe’s versatility as a fashion statement over 30 years later, the reissue marks its crossover from court to streets.
PUMA came in at the last minute and gave me a deal I couldn’t refuse. My first couple of weeks in the NBA, I wore a shoe that was a prototype of the shoe that I would end up having. Within a two-week period of time, I had the shoes that I needed to wear that had my name on it, said Ralph Sampson speaking SLAM.
Talking about how the retro release started:
I had called them a number of years ago to see if they were getting back into the [basketball] business. They were changing personnel. They said they weren’t. Then out of the blue, a few years later, I don’t even know how they got my number, but one of the guys in the office called me. I was in Los Angeles at the time and I got a call. I didn’t know the number so I didn’t answer. I looked at my voicemail and it was ‘I’m so-and-so from PUMA, give me a call back.’ I had heard that they were back and they had signed Clyde Frazier to a lifetime deal. So I called them back. We had a couple of meetings on the phone, I flew to Boston, had a couple of meetings. And then much later we ended up with a pretty good deal.
The PUMA Ralph Sampson Mid OG features a full leather upper with a clean, classic look in PUMA White-Gray Violet-Peacoat colourway.
Look out for the PUMA Ralph Sampson Mid OG releasing from Saturday, 27th April 2019 at PUMA Selected Stores and selected retailers. The retail price is set at R1799.
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