Chuck Taylor, All Star: The True Story of the Man behind the Most Famous Athletic Shoe in History

In 1921, Converse hired 20-year-old Chuck Taylor as a salesman, beginning a nearly 50-year career that shaped the Converse All Star basketball shoe. Though his name appears on the label of these shoes, worn by hundreds of millions, little was widely known about Taylor himself. Abe Aamidor spent three years researching Taylor's life, traveling across the country to separate fact from fiction. Taylor was a basketball player who served as a wartime coach with the US Army Air Forces and organized thousands of high school and college basketball clinics. He promoted basketball as an ambassador in Europe, South America, and throughout the United States. He was also a marketing strategist who was inducted into the Sporting Goods Hall of Fame and the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. This biography explores the man, the company, the sport, and the nation behind one of history's most famous athletic shoes.