by Royce Radcliffe

Created on: April 05, 2007   Last Updated: April 07, 2007

Called "the most famous name in sports that no one knows anything about," Chuck Taylor is the quintessential example of the athlete turned businessperson. His achievement supersedes his own history and provides a great example of moving forward with the second phase of ones life. He followed up a successful pro career by laying the seeds to a billion dollar empire. He is a true pioneer. The adaption was stunning to many in the business world at the time, and it stands as a great accomplishment to this day. If you don't believe that, check the sales for Converse!

It is tragic how athletes are called things like "old" when they are actually men in their thirties with more than half their lives ahead of them. Many athletes do not have any plan for the second tier of their life and are entirely reliant upon savings to continue their lifestyles. Many reduce their consumption as the savings dwindle. For the athlete who does not want to have to make sacrifices, creativity is required. And Chuck Taylor has it in spades.

Chuck Taylor got his riches from a combination of a good professional reputation and great marketing skills. Taylor was known in the 1930s, '40s and '50s as a pro basketball player, as well as an ultra-famous clinician who taught basketball to young people in high schools and colleges across the country.

After retiring he immediately began working on designs for a new athletic shoe. It would be more flexible and less chaffing than the models that were dominant in the industry at the time. In a daring move, he used his money saved from his career in the gamble of his life. He funded a crew that helped him work out the schematics of the shoe, and then mass factory production. He did numerous radio spots and print ads concurrent to the shoe's release. It worked beautifully and was actually one of the first great examples of athletic endorsements in advertisements.

The high-top shoes bearing his name, "Chucks," have maintained their place in youth culture for decades as the height of casual sneaker wear. The canvas material is some of the most comfortable known to man, and very pliable. Although he was a good player in his time, Taylor will always be known for his shoe empire. No hard feelings, though. This is the guy that said he wants a Converse logo on his tombstone. Now that's appreciation.

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