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Remember the Time the adidas Stan Smith Was Called Something Else

The adidas Stan Smith has been the sneaker of the summer, and a portion of the people wearing the '70s tennis sneaker don't have any clue who mustached-man on the tongue is. And that's OK with Stan Smith. In a 2009 interview in Sneaker Freaker, Issue 15, Smith had a candid talk about his sneaker legacy and how the Stan Smith come about. He even admitted that it's natural for new generations to forget about previous legends.

For those unaware, the adidas Stan Smith wasn't always the Stan Smith. It was Robert Haillet's signature tennis sneaker. It was developed by Horst Dassler, the son of adidas founder Adi Dassler, and Haillet. But Smith said, "But for a coupleof years there, from '72 to '74, both of our names were on the shoe. My name and pictures were on the tongue and his name was on the side of the shoe."

Taken back by the strangeness of this situation, the interview, Craig E. Burn, asked Smith, "Why did they phase Robert out?"

And Smith answered, "Well, because our agreement was that it was going to be the Stan Smith shoe and not anything else."

But Smith also said in the interview, "They [adidas] really wanted to get into the U.S. market. I was the best player at the time and was a natural fit, so my name went on the shoe in 1972."

It would be safe to assume that there would be negative feelings between Hailett and Smith because