The True Story of 'AIR'? There Isn't One!
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Maybe you've seen the shoe with a big swoosh on it before? How about the sneakers that have a logo of some dude dunking a basketball? I'm talking about the Nike AIR Jordans, people—one of the most popular sneakers on the planet. Why, you ask? Because Michael Jordan—arguably the best basketball player of all time—stepped into them and won six NBA championships.
As if the shoe needed any more press, the story of the shoe—and Nike's signing of Jordan—is told in Ben Affleck's latest film, AIR. The movie tells the story of former Nike executive Sonny Vaccaro (played by Matt Damon_ and how the deal came together. After seeing AIR, you'll probably wonder how accurate Affleck's account of the story is. Truth is: with multiple varying accounts of the tale out there from its main players, it's hard to know for sure.
Sonny Vaccaro's Side of the Story
According to AIR, the only reason Jordan ended up signing with Nike over Adidas and Converse was because Vaccaro visited Jordan's parents at their home in North Carolina. His agent, David Falk, once told Action Network that Jordan was interested in signing with Adidas as the time—but he agreed to meet with Nike after a little convincing from his parents. While Jordan's parents helped Nike's cause, Vaccaro—in real life—did not fly to North Carolina to speak with with the family. Instead, he briefly met Jordan with the help of his old friend George Raveling, pitching Jordan the idea of a shoe designed solely around him. The initial meeting didn't go well, but Falk convinced Jordan's parents to make sure their son went to a follow-up meeting at Nike headquarters. Falk also alleges that he created the name "AIR Jordan" during a meeting with Nike shoe designer Peter B. Moore.
Years later, Vaccaro was completely left out of the The Last Dance, the 2020 documentary series about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty. After watching The Last Dance, the Nike executive reached out to to his local Pittsburgh sports radio show to share his thoughts. He called The Last Dance's account "revisionist history," claiming, "Without me, he doesn't sign. We don't go through all those romantic stories about Adidas and [how] no one was paying him. That doesn't happen. There's no Air Jordan." For the most part, AIR agrees. The film also includes Vaccaro's real-life account that Nike wanted to spend $2 million on a roster of players, but he eventually convinced them to put all their cash behind Jordan. "My position was: all the money we have, just give it to him," Vaccaro told Nss Magazine.
Nike presented Jordan with the red and black design—and Jordan didn't say a word throughout the entire pitch... until he picked up the shoe and said, "Red… the color of the devil." That's according to Vaccaro's account, at least. Jordan also questioned why there wasn't any blue in the shoe—which was the color of University of North Carolina, his alma mater. AIR amends this scene a bit, having the Michael Jordan stand-in utter, "Red... Bulls colors." But Vaccaro recalled that he gave an impassioned speech to Deloris Jordan about how Nike was betting its entire future on Jordan—and all parties eventually signed the deal.
Michael Jordan's Side of the Story
According to Jordan, Vaccaro wasn't nearly as important to the deal as the former Nike executive attests. In an interview with USA Today, Jordan gave all the credit to both his mother and Rambling, who pressed that he meet with Vaccaro and Nike. Jordan eventually signed with Nike not just because they offered him a percentage of every shoe sold, but because he thought that the shoe company believed in his abilities more than Adidas or Converse. "It’s a lot of people who think they created the success of the Jordan Brand, which is kind of ironic in some ways," Jordan joked. "Sonny didn’t influence me to go to Nike. He got a deal proposed."
When Ben Affleck met with Michael Jordan before production began on AIR, the six-time champ reiterated to Affleck that George Rambling and his mother were the two driving forces behind his signing. Jordan's mother "wasn't really in the script" at the time, Affleck told The Hollywood Reporter, but they eventually expanded her role because Jordan had one request: that she should be played by Viola Davis. (A very good request.) Luckily, it wasn't out of the question. Affleck also incorporated a scene in which Vaccaro asks Rambling if he should visit the Jordans at their home—which we now know never really occurred. Rambling took Vaccaro to meet Jordan after a UNC game, and the hooper was completely sold by Adidas at the time. He liked their jumpsuits—and they were going to buy him a car.
But Jordan allegedly never liked Vaccaro, even before that first meeting. Another point in favor of Jordan's telling of the events: Vaccaro was fired in 1991—just six years after the deal took place. Mysteriously, the reasonings for his termination remain unknown. "I don’t know enough, and I guess I’ll never know," Vaccaro told Bleacher Report about leaving Nike back in 2015. Nike co-founder Phil Knight even said in the USA Today piece, "Sonny helped, but he wasn’t the MVP in that process."
So, Who De We Trust?
In a follow-up interview with USA Today, Vaccaro stated that he was "the savior of Nike." He added, "Michael’s lying more than Phil [Knight] and Raveling... All three of them need to destroy me to live happily ever after." That said, Jordan has also been known to hold a grudge, to say the least—and the NBA legend's dislike for the former Nike executive may explain why he was left out of The Last Dance. AIR certainly makes the case that it was all Vaccaro, but ultimately, it doesn't really matter which guy at Nike sealed the deal. It was MJ's decision (and his skills!) that made AIR Jordan what it is today. Can't argue against six rings.
You Might Also Like
