Category: Making A Difference

Making Kicks Count: Upstart sneaker brand looks to make impact in local community

Brandon King

Davi is new sneaker brand founded by former Nike director Gabriel Williams that seeks to make a difference in its community. I really feel like business should play a key role in supporting the communities that support it. At davi, we always say it, like me and the team, we’re just more than a sneaker company. We really want to build a brand that encourages and empowers people. Williams said in starting this company, he wanted to sell a sneaker that would help the local arts, music, and sports programs.…

Read More

Making A Difference: Vic Mensa and his organization giving away 13,000 pairs of shoes in response to bait truck fiasco

Brandon King

As news of the CPD’s and Norfolk Southern’s underhanded attempt to use a bait truck sting to put more people in the system, made the national rounds, Chicago native and rapper decided to do something in response. Mensa and his organisation , the SaveMoneySaveLife Foundation, have collected over 13,000 pair of shoes. These shoes will be given away free to attendees at the West Englewood Community Center, which sits on the same block the infamous bait truck was placed. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmy-r51AQZ2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Donations to this cause can be made via SaveMoneySaveLife’s Amazon…

Read More

Making A Difference: Vans Donates more than 2,500 sneakers to CA fire victims

Brandon King

The deadly Carr fire has been ablaze since July 23. In that time it has destroyed more than 214,000 acres and claimed over 1,000 homes. Although it is 71% contained, Cal Fire says there are still approximately 3,800 firefighters working to contain it. In light of this tragic event, Vans has stepped in to offer some help to victims. Wednesday a truck pulled up to Vans’. Anderson California outlet that was driven by Steve Van Doren,Vice President and son of the brand’s co-founder. The truck contained 2,500 pairs of shoes…

Read More

Making A Difference: Damian Lillard interview with Lamar Hurd

Brandon King

Check out this interview Portland Trail Blazers TV analyst Lamar Hurd did with Damian Lillard regarding his work with children and the Portland community. “I wanna have my impact on it & really put my hands on the kids & interact with them & really help them improve.” @dame_lillard sits down with @L_Hurd to talk about his work with kids & the Portland community. FULL INTERVIEW: https://t.co/AzTebT6ib5pic.twitter.com/l7fJIiggo2 — Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) July 26, 2018 https://www.nba.com/blazers/video/2018/07/26/lillard

Read More

Tuskegee football player Jabari Bailey has career tragically ended

Brandon King

Jabari Bailey was set to head to Tuskegee this summer for camp and begin to actualize his dream of playing college football. Sadly that dream was ended when Bailey was helping a friend who car had malfunctioned, leaving him stranded on the side of the road. A car struck Bailey, pinning him between the two vehicles and severing his leg. The entire university is heartbroken for Jabari, his family and for all of us who know him. There are no words to describe how it felt to hear this terrible news.…

Read More

Making A Difference: Spurs Rook Lonnie Walker IV donates 300 pairs of shoes to hometown basketball league

Brandon King

With our ongoing series, Stupid Things People Do For Sneakers, we have the unfortunate tasks of bringing to you the depravity that sneakers can cause. This is a sneaker-related story that should bring a smile to your face. According to the Reading Eagle’s Mike Drago, San Antonio Spurs rookie Lonnie Walker, along with Adidas exec Eric Wise, helped deliver 300 pairs of shoes to the Blacktop Basketball League in Redding, Pennsylvania. “Lonnie has been nothing but genuine in being a role model and carrying himself the right way,” Blacktop board…

Read More

Damian Lillard delivers free shoes to Portland kids

Brandon King

Monday, in a post on his Instagram Portland Trail Blazers star guard Damian Lillard teased that he would be “giving away like 50 pairs of size 12/12.5 shoes.” True to the post, Lillard showed up at a Portland, Oregon park in a U-haul truck he drove himself,ready to give away free pairs of Adidas kicks. NASCAR writer Jeff Gluck reports that Lillard also signed autographs for those in attendance. Craziness at a city park in Portland! NBA All-Star @Dame_Lillard posted on social media he was en route to give free…

Read More

The NFL showing what they are really about with anthem rule

Brandon King

Since Colin Kaepernick began sitting, and then kneeling, during the national anthem in 2016, to protest police brutality against black people, other players across the league joined in there was kneeling at nearly every game. The growing protest and the conversation ( that was later hijacked) that it sparked was going to force America to look in the mirror and really examine the systematic terrorizing of black people by certain segments of law enforcement. However , a concerted effort was launched by the media and their talking heads to divert…

Read More

Adidas North America President: If a team signs Colin Kaepernick, we want him

Brandon King

During question-and answer session Adidas’ North American President said the athletic company is interested in signing former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick–as soon as he signs with an NFL team. Mark King, President of Adidas’ North American operations said Friday in a Q&A at Arizona State University’s Global Sport Summit that Adidas doesn’t want to appear that it is “taking advantage of this noise or interest that he had generated. If he signs on a team, we would definitely want to sign him.” King also had this to say:…

Read More