History of Stan Smith

It is almost 3 decades since the World number 1 American tennis player Stanley RogerStan Smith retired, but he has not retired from the minds of people. Many know his name through the famous shoe by Adidas and lot others know the achievements of this man in the world of tennis. People of younger generation, in fact his own son had asked, "Was the shoe named after you, or were you named after the shoe". Let me take you through the history of this great personality.

Simth was born in Pasadena,CA in the year 1946 and he played collegiate tennis at the Universiry of South California. He was a three-time All-American at collegiate level and won 1968 NCAA Singles as well as the 1967 and 1968 doubles. At 6'4", he had both the caliber of his game and strength of his character, also was a strong character on and off the tennis court. He is better known for his Davis cup contributions which stretched for 11 years from 1968 to 1979.

Of the 24 engagements in Davis cup, Stan has won 22 times and 16 times ended up with clinching points. His glam slam record is as follows:

Grand Slam Record

Australian Open 

• Doubles Champion 1970

 Wimbledon 

• Singles Champion 1972

US Open 

• Singles Champion 1971
• Doubles Champion 1968, 1974, 1978, 1980

Career Achievements

• Davis Cup Team Member 1968-73, 1975-79, 1981

He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987. Smith's career record of 641–262 (Win/Loss) is impeccable.

Adidas started a new breed of leather tennis shoes in the same year as Stan Smith started playing amateur tennis, year 1963-64. But it was not until 1971, that Adidas approached Smith to endorse the tennis shoe. It had the name of Robert Haillet on the side and Stan’s picture on the tongue. That picture had Stan without a moustache, a rare sight. We all have seen this famous grass green color tennis shoe which had a green patch at the back to support Achiless tendon. That was a performance shoe made for tennis players. Stan was World number 1 at that moment and he designed this shoe himself.

There are currently 8 major versions of the Stan Smith Adidas shoes. Today, the shoe is more of a life-style category rather than the performance one. Some of the most famous versions of Stan’s shoes are

• adidas stan smith
• adidas stan smith II
• adidas stan smith 80s
• adidas stan smith Millennium

The Adidas Stan Smith was originally manufactured in Landersheim in north-eastern France by "Adidas France" that was initiated by Horst Dassler. By 1988, Adidas had sold 22 million pairs of Stan Smith shoes and the shoe was listed in the Guiness World Records.

Here's a Video by Stan taking you through his journey:

https://www.adidas-archive.org/#/ourheroes/smith

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