Jed Likos
Empire Strikes Back characters. So when it
came to shoes, I wanted all the Air Tech Chal-
lenges, and then moved on after complet-
ing that set. Then it was, “What can I look
at next?” Then I got into the early basketball
models, which is really what I’m into right now.
The early player exclusives like the George
Gervin Franchise or Blazer, or the George-
town Terminator, or Kentucky Dunk. when you see a player’s name on the back, you
know there was no way you could get that shoe
at a store. You had to know the ball boy, or the
player himself, or a family member. You just
think, “How did this shoe get into my hands?
How did it get from that players foot to me?
How did the Hoya Terminator make it from
the championship game to my hands?” You
think about the journey.
A lot of the player exclusives have come from
other collectors and guys I’m friends with on
Facebook groups or Instagram. I always look
out for other people, and we all know what
each other are looking for. I was looking for
the Gervin Blazer for years and a pair popped
up on eBay. Another collector (Lindy Darrell)
immediately sent me a text. He could have
probably made the deal himself, but he knew I
was looking for them, and hit me up. What are some of your craziest pickups?
Right now, I’m trying to stick to those early
basketball models. I love that era of basketball
and I love the player exclusive models, because
80 | Classic Kicks | classickicks.com | Volume 2
One of the craziest pickups was when I got
the Michael Johnson gold sneaker. It was the
find of a lifetime. I don’t even know what I
was looking for, but the right shoe came up
for auction, and there was no “Buy it Now.” I
forget what the starting auction price was. I hit
the seller up and I threw out this crazy lowball
offer and he said, “Sure, I’ll go for that.” He
had bought a storage unit near Eugene, OR
and they were just sitting in there. I tracked
them down and they were part of the exhibit
for when the Olympics were in Shanghai. They