Red Balls tennis shoes

Red. Ball. Jets. To say the name was honorable, respectful. It evoked sport, basketball, and most of all speed. When you pulled the canvas sneakers out of the box, brand new and smelling of pungent rubber, it was almost a crime to put them on your feet. But you couldn’t wait to slip into your Red Balls.

Before Air Jordans infected youngsters with the hysteria for footwear, Red Ball Jets were there. These were the only canvas sneaker to put on your feet in the glorious carefree days of adolescence. Converse had All-Stars, Sears had Jeepers, and Keds had ProKeds, but kids only wanted one thing: Red Ball Jets. Produced from 1951 to 1971 by Red Ball Inc., Red Ball Jets had a fanatic following before the days of status symbols.

Uniroyal, the United States rubber company who made rubberized soles for Keds, bought the rights in 1971, but never produced any more of the shoes. Red Balls joined the ranks of Jeepers as long gone but not forgotten footwear.

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