The PF Flyers

By Richard Diaz
Love of Sports Correspondent

Does anyone remember the days before sneakers became fashionable?

Picturing the sneaker industry without the likes of Nike, Reebok and Adidas would be kind of like picturing the video game world without Nintendo or Sony. They’re the giants of an industry that never seems to be phased by a weak economy, and regardless of where you’re from, it’s unlikely you’ve never seen or worn a pair of kicks made by each of those three companies.

Unbeknownst to most of the young people that wear them today, one such shoe that predates the Swoosh, and anyone reading this column, is the Converse All-Star Basketball shoe. Created way back in 1917, this iconic shoe has withstood everything from bankruptcy to the expected test of time. Yet, thanks in part to its association with Chuck Taylor, the tradition continues.

Having said that, it really can’t be Old School Love if you can still pick up a pair at your nearest Footlocker or Champs, can it? As classic, simple and plain as they continue to be, those Chucks always manage to attract a different crowd from one generation to the next, but I digress.

I’m here to remind everyone about a mythological pair of shoes that you really can’t find anymore, at least not in their true form. The story goes that these shoes were guaranteed to help you “run faster and jump higher.”

It says that Benny “the Jet” Rodriguez was able to ‘pickle the Beast’ as a direct result of strapping on a brand new, right out of the box, midnight black, center-hi style pair of … PF Flyers!

Produced by BF Goodrich in 1937, these shoes were hugely popular in the 1950s and 1960s, but eventually fell off the map. The typical style was a canvas-duck sneaker with cloth reaching above the ankle. They were eerily similar to the Chuck Taylors, right down to a patch on the side that read PF Flyer.

Strange as it is to think about BF Goodrich making a sneaker, the fact is they were ahead of their time as far as comfort and technology were concerned.

You have to love them for patenting the Posture Foundation insole, which was an innovation in performance and comfort that involved a wedge-like insert that moved weight to the outside of the foot, evenly distributing weight, thus reducing leg strain.

They also changed the name to PF Flyers rather than simply trying to market a Posture Foundation insol.

Heck, not just anyone could’ve outrun the Beast and rescued the autographed “Bambino” ball. The PF Flyers for being a mythological sneaker that’s guaranteed to make you “run faster and jump higher.” And that’s why we’re giving some Old School Love to a classic shoe that doesn’t get enough props in a world dominated by the likes of Nike and the rest.