No Air Jordan without George Raveling?

[GOHOX69]

I was watching that movie Air and did not realize how instrumental George Raveling was in having Michael Jordan sign with Nike.

Even Michael admits that he signed with Nike due to George.

I was a teen then and didn't know any of this except that Iowa was an early adopter of Nike basketball shoes. Pretty cool story.

https://thesportsrush.com/nba-news-31-years-later-michael-jordan-accused-sonny-vaccaro-of-stealing-credit-from-george-raveling-for-billion-dollar-deal-you-go-for-nike/

 

[NevadaHawk]

I was most impressed by Michael's mother. She convinced Sonny Vaccaro to give Michael a percentage of the Air Jordon profits. That was unheard of at the time. I do agree with George Raveling playing a pivotal role in Michael signing with Nike.

At the end of the movie it was mentioned, Reveling turned a three million dollar offer for his original hand-written "I Have a Dream" speech given to him by Martin Luther King at the conclusion of the speech delivered by the Reverend King.

 

[GOHOX69]

I was most impressed by Michael's mother. She convinced Sonny Vaccaro to give Michael a percentage of the Air Jordon profits. That was unheard of at the time. I do agree with George Raveling playing a pivotal role in Michael signing with Nike.

At the end of the movie it was mentioned, Reveling turned a three million dollar offer for his original hand-written "I Have a Dream" speech given to him by Martin Luther King at the conclusion of the speech delivered by the Reverend King.

Real life doesn't imitate art though. The scuttlebutt is that Sonny actually didn't visit Michael's mom but that Robert Strasser, the Jason Bateman character, did. Not to mention the ages are wrong. Strasser died at 46 in 1993 of a heart attack in Germany. He would therefore have been 36 to 37 when he was at Nike in 1984, when the movie is set. Most people at Nike think that Strasser had more to do with Michael than Sonny. The irony is in 1987, the shoe designer for the Air Jordan shoe and Strasser both quit Nike and created a company that worked exclusively with Adidas. Strasser, as is stated, died very young. The real life Strasser in no way looked like Jason Bateman and his colleagues describe him as a force of nature, not the demure person portrayed.

 

[NevadaHawk]

Real life doesn't imitate art though. The scuttlebutt is that Sonny actually didn't visit Michael's mom but that Robert Strasser, the Jason Bateman character, did. Not to mention the ages are wrong. Strasser died at 46 in 1993 of a heart attack in Germany. He would therefore have been 36 to 37 when he was at Nike in 1984, when the movie is set. Most people at Nike think that Strasser had more to do with Michael than Sonny. The irony is in 1987, the shoe designer for the Air Jordan shoe and Strasser both quit Nike and created a company that worked exclusively with Adidas. Strasser, as is stated, died very young. The real life Strasser in no way looked like Jason Bateman and his colleagues describe him as a force of nature, not the demure person portrayed.

I'm not disputing anything you are saying. I am curious if the scene where the Jordan family met with all the Nike executives and Vacarro gave that speech, did that really happen? If it didn't and the producers took that much artistic license, then I'm disappointed with the film.

 

[GOHOX69]

I'm not disputing anything you are saying. I am curious if the scene where the Jordan family met with all the Nike executives and Vacarro gave that speech, did that really happen? If it didn't and the producers took that much artistic license, then I'm disappointed with the film.

I don't believe it did. That's the point. In fact, people at Nike, from that time, say that Stasser visited the Jordans not Vacarro.

 

[NevadaHawk]

I don't believe it did. That's the point. In fact, people at Nike, from that time, say that Stasser visited the Jordans not Vacarro.

I'm glad to know the truth but unhappy with the filmmakers. Thank you for your insight GOHOX.

 

[GOHOX69]

I'm glad to know the truth but unhappy with the filmmakers. Thank you for your insight GOHOX.

You're welcome. Have a great weekend. I just thought it was cool that it had an Iowa angle 😀

 

[joelbc1]

I watched this movie a couple of nights ago…I did know Raveling had the hard copy of the MLK speech, though…

 

[NevadaHawk]

I watched this movie a couple of nights ago…I did know Raveling had the hard copy of the MLK speech, though…

Raveling, who I think was a teenager at the time, was near the podium where MLK gave the speech. After the speech was over, Raveling approached MLK and told MLK how much he liked the speech. MlK thanked Raveling and give him the hard copy of the speech which Raveling still has to this day,

 

[JupiterHawk]

Pippen with the serious shade

 

[Tylerl_28]

Pippen mad that his ex-wife is getting hammered by MJ's kid

 

[JupiterHawk]

 

[anon_b29nm7v7dwp6r]

Yeah I loved Scottie, but he has some serious sour grapes.

I don’t know if it’s related to his contract thing or what, if it is….he did that to himself….

 

[JupiterHawk]

Yeah I loved Scottie, but he has some serious sour grapes.

I don’t know if it’s related to his contract thing or what, if it is….he did that to himself….

I know he was not happy at all with the MJ documentary.

 

[Bro D]

Love scottie but he's lost his mind. MJs son banging his ex-wife probably set him over the edge

 

[dgordo]

 

[GOHOX69]

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He seems very very needy. He doesn't have diddly squat without Jordan.