words & images_Nick DePaula
For most of the league's Nike Basketball athletes, Kyle Yamaguchi, the category's Promo Product Line Manager, has the honors of styling up the player exclusive colorways seen on the feet of the NBA's biggest stars. Last season, Nike Basketball decided to go a different route with the game shoes of one of their rising forwards, teaming up with the Portland Trail Blazers to auction off a once-in-a-lifetime "Nike Experience" at the team's inaugural Hoops & Heart Gala charity event.
The experience? Take a tour of the Nike campus and create a custom colorway of the Max Hyperize, to be worn by Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge. Even better, both LaMarcus and Kyle Yamaguchi would be there to walk you through the process and help with the design. Quite a package for any potential high bidder to enjoy.
Among the many charity auction items benefiting the team's make it better fund at the Hoops & Heart Gala event, held last October to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Trail Blazers franchise, the "Nike Experience" was certainly one of the most in-demand. During the event, several guest speakers addressed the crowd of current and former players, sharing everything from personal stories to memories from past seasons. One of the groups invited to the stage to share their story was Anthony, a Portland high-school student and Blazers fan who has admittedly learned to enjoy his schoolwork a bit more over the years, and his "Friends of the Children" mentor Tim.
By the time bidding for the "Nike Experience" had begun, Blazers franchise player Brandon Roy was determined to win -- as he and his wife were deeply touched by Anthony's journey.
Roy gladly won the auction, only to then donate the "Nike Experience" to Anthony.
[Above, L to R: LaMarcus Aldridge details the "Nike Experience" package to a crowd of bidders; Brandon Roy celebrates his winning bid, then gladly awards the package to Anthony.]
Last March, Anthony and his mentor Tim excitedly took in the "Nike Experience," visiting the sprawling Nike campus for the first time. By the end of the hour-long brainstorm session with LaMarcus and Kyle, Anthony had designed both a home and away colorway of the Max Hyperize, debuted by Aldridge during the first round of the Playoffs and currently being worn by the Blazer big man during this year's preseason stretch.
While Anthony's original neon green and pink idea got a pretty quick veto from LaMarcus -- and we can assume the league office would've minded -- the two did nail down an all red version that they both were crazy about. "I love red. That's exactly what I had in mind," LaMarcus happily approved. "I'll moon walk in those!"
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Enjoy a first-person account of the Nike Experience, written by Anthony:
It all started with the Trail Blazers Hoops & Heart Gala benefiting the make it better fund. During the auction, Brandon bid on and won the package that lets a guest design a shoe at Nike with LaMarcus Aldridge. After he won it, he donated it to me and I was speechless, I didn't know how to take it in. I was so overjoyed, I almost went into tears. No one had ever done anything like that for me before. I was so excited to be at the gala, but then when I heard that I was going to get to design a shoe with LaMarcus, I was floored. 
The day I went out to Nike seemed like it took forever. Every class period felt like it was dragging on. Finally I met with Tim, my mentor at the Friends of the Children office and we headed out to the Nike Campus. I was so excited to just be out at the Nike Campus, but the fact that I was going to be designing a shoe with LaMarcus made it all that much more exciting. The campus was amazing and all the sports memorabilia was so cool to see. When LaMarcus joined us, I was really happy and excited to see him. On TV, he doesn't seem that tall, but in person I couldn't believe how tall he actually was.
When I met with the Nike team, I felt really official. I felt like I was really designing a shoe that Nike was going to sell. I felt like a business man. When I got to change the color and design of the shoe I felt like I was in charge. I had never felt anything like that before. LaMarcus and I really designed a couple of nice shoes. It seemed like we had very similar taste. Our only difference was that LaMarcus didn't exactly go for the pink color that I wanted to put into the shoe. After we designed several shoes and it was time to go I was like, "Oh man." I didn't want it to end.
The entire experience was amazing and I will probably share this story with everyone. I can't thank LaMarcus, Brandon, and the Trail Blazers enough. Now I'm looking forward to seeing LaMarcus play wearing the shoes that we designed.
For more information about Friends of the Children, visit FriendsoftheChildren.org. "Friends of the Children" is a non-profit organization that provides a professional, salaried mentor for youth from troubled homes, starting in kindergarten or first grade, and commits to them for 12 years, no matter what.
For more information about Hoops & Heart and the make it better fund, visit TrailBlazers.com/makeitbetter
Anthony, his mentor Tim, and Kyle Yamaguchi:
The final designs:
LaMarcus in action:
