Here are five figures who truly changed how we played.

Sports shoes

Rubber companies had made shoes such as plimsolls since the late 19th century. But the first recognisable sneaker that endures to today came from Converse, the “Non-Skid” of 1917. These shoes would become famous by another name after basketball player Chuck Taylor joined the company in 1923 – his tireless work in promoting the sport also served to promote the shoes, and established the industry’s model of athlete endorsement.

In other parts of the world, other shoe brands were emerging. The German brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler had equipped athletes in the 1936 Olympics, but suffered a notorious falling-out after World War II. In the split, Adolf kept their company and renamed it Adidas, while Rudolf went off to form Puma, creating a pair of influential style-makers. In Japan, the Onitsuka Tiger company had early success designing shoes for distance running, attracting the attention of a former American college runner, Phil Knight. He set up a company to import the shoes, and eventually set off to make shoes of his own – what would eventually become known as Nike.

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