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| The "Air Zoom Flight 95" |
As you can probably figure out from the name, these first released back in 1995 and I believe Jason Kidd first wore them in his second NBA season which was '95-'96. The navy blue colorway went perfectly with Kidd's uniform and he instantly brought the shoe to prominence as he quickly emerged as one of the NBA's best young players. You may also remember former LA Clipper Brent Barry winning the 1996 Slam Dunk contest in a white and red colorway of these shoes. Alonzo Mourning also wore a high-top version of the model. Interestingly these were one of the first Nike models to use the Zoom Air technology that we still see in many shoes today.
I'm not exactly sure why but these have always been a favorite of mine, I think it's the fact that they are just so much different than what 99% of "normal" basketball shoes look like. From the pods to the huge midsole to the stitched on "waves" it's just a very unique sneaker. I actually put out my own money back in high school when I was broke to get these and I've been lucky enough to acquire another 3 pairs recently but there are still 2-3 colorways I need to cop. Hopefully Nike will retro these again soon (even though they did drop some in '08) and possibly with some new colorways so I can continue to add to my collection.
This model is probably my favorite non-Jordan Nike model of all time and that is why I chose it as the first sneaker I wanted to highlight in this series. In the future I'll also look at some Jordan's (although those probably aren't as "forgotten") and some non-Nike models as well. What are some older kicks that bring back memories for you? Feel free to share in the comments or hit me up on twitter @ufc4. Thanks for reading and check back again soon to see what the next model in the series will be.
