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

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by Ryan Corazza
Indiana Daily Student
Published Wednesday, March 22, 2006


His signature resides on the ankle patch of perhaps the most popular shoe in American history. He's a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame and mingled with such basketball legends as John Wooden, Red Auerbach and Dean Smith. But up until now, nobody knew the true story of Chuck Taylor.

Enter Abe Aamidor.

The former IU adjunct professor and current feature writer at The Indianapolis Star spent three years digging up the facts and filtering out the myth of Chuck Taylor's life to write the first-ever biography on the Columbus, Ind., native.

"I was excited to learn there was never a book written about him," Aamidor said. "It was kind of like finding a gold coin in the street and nobody's around -- you just pick it up."

Because Taylor played in the pre-modern era of basketball that newspapers did not cover much and Converse misled the public about which pro teams Taylor played for, there was a lot for Aamidor to discover.

"Part of the mission was to debunk the mythology," Aamidor said. "There was a lot of junk in the standard brief stuff on Chuck's life, but there was also a lot that wasn't talked about."

Taylor was born in 1901 and spent most of his early years in Azalia, Ind., and Columbus, Ind.

He never played college basketball, which before World War II was the most watched and publicized level of the game. Instead, Taylor became involved with industrial league hoops, more prominent during the 1920s than professional basketball.

Taylor was also a great basketball coach -- a part of his life that is often overlooked, Aamidor said. He coached the Wright Field (Ohio) Army Air Force "Air-Tecs" of the U.S. Army's Special Service Division. The team toured the country playing college and other military teams and is regarded by some as the best service basketball team in history, winning more than 90 percent of its contests during the 1944-45 season.

"All the good players from colleges that were already playing pro ball were drafted (for military service)," Aamidor said. "In those days, you didn't get a deferment from the draft because you were a great ball player."

Instead of being well-known for his coaching abilities, Taylor became most famous for his relationship with Converse and its "All-Star" shoe. Although stories range on just how Chuck became involved with the company, he most likely became a salesman for Converse in 1921 and after proving to be a valuable asset to the company, his name was added to the All-Star patch in 1932.

One way Taylor marketed the shoe was through the "Fundamentals of Basketball" clinics he put on throughout the country. These clinics were put on at high schools and small colleges and on average drew about 300 to 400 guests.

"Before World War II, football and baseball were the big sports," Aamidor said. "So, in the clinics, he explained the game to a lot of people who weren't familiar with it."

Taylor promoted the shoe in a variety of other ways, ranging from traveling with the Converse All-Stars basketball squad to personally contacting and visiting owners of small-town sporting goods stores.

"In a way, his dealings were a bit shady, but he was ultimately honest and likeable," Aamidor said. "Nowadays, every photograph is airbrushed and any statement made is through a spokesman and interviews have to be granted. While Chuck's ways weren't perfect, they were much more honest."

Ryan Corazza
Published Wednesday, March 22, 2006

I thought this was a great read! Here is an article I found about the book from the August Gannetteer:

"Indy staffer bares basketball player's 'sole'"

Probably the only thing you know about Chuck Taylor is that his name appears on a shoe. Abe Aamidor wants you to know why.

The Indianapolis Star reporter has penned "Chuck Taylor, All Star"(Indiana University Press), a biography of the man whose name became synonymous with the Converse basketball shoe that bears his signature.

"I learned that Chuck Taylor was the most famous name in sports no one knew anything about," Aamidor says. "There had been no biographies written about him, and some people thought the name was fake, like Betty Crocker or Juan Valdez. I felt there had to be a story to tell."

Aamidor was granted access to Converse's corporate archives and Taylor's stepson gave him permission to visit the Port Charlotte, Fla., home and estate of Taylor's second wife to collect materials. He discovered correspondence between Taylor and legendary University of North Carolina coach Dean Smith, as well as UCLA's John Wooden. Smith wrote the foreword for Aamidor's book and Wooden "was by far my best living source."

The three-year project also took Aamidor to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio - Taylor was coach of the Wright Field Army Air Force "Air-Tecs" basketball team during World War II - and the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

The book, Aamidor's third, has brought him national attention, with interviews on ESPN2's "Cold Pizza" and syndicated radio shows "Sports Byline USA" and "The Bob and Tom Show." Aamidor has also penned two college-level journalism texts, "Real Feature Writing" and "Real Sports Reporting."