Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars

Charles Hollis “Chuck” Taylor was born in Brown County, Indiana in 1901 and went on to become a professional basketball player (never full-time, just a few semi-pro gigs) long before the NBA was formed. When the game ended for him, he started working for Converse in 1922 as a sneaker salesman and marketer. Taylor was a player and coach for the company’s industrial basketball team, the “Converse All-Stars,” which was also the name of a style of sneakers he helped redesign. The company thought so much of his contributions, it added his name to the ankle patch in 1932. Nearly a century later, it remains one of the world’s best-selling basketball shoes.