Boyd’s Grady Lewis brought America one of its most popular and common styles of footwear.
Born March 25, 1917, he grew to 6 feet 7 inches and played basketball for the University of Oklahoma, then went on to play for the Phillips 66 Oilers, Detroit Falcons, St. Louis Bombers and Baltimore Bullets.
Lewis also coached the Bombers during the 1948-49 and 1949-50 seasons.
Converse hired him to be a member of its national sales team after trying to get its Chuck Taylor Converse All-Star shoe into high school and college gyms across the nation.
Family members said Lewis didn’t like the high-top shoe, so he developed a lower-cut sneaker. By the 1960s, many professional basketball players preferred the low-cut style to the Chuck Taylor high-top the company produced by the millions during the 1950s.
Today the shoe can still be found in many stores and on the feet of millions of people.
Lewis died March 11, 2009, in Peoria, Ariz.
