Goodyear Goes From Rubber to Roundball

Honors Basketball Hall of Famer and former Goodyear Associate Larry Brown

AKRON, Ohio, Nov. 2 -- The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., the world's largest tire company, has introduced its newest product. It's not a tire; in fact, it's not even made out of rubber. It is a one-of-a-kind collectible basketball jersey that recalls its sports heritage and honors a living legend.

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In 1964, Akron's Goodyear Wingfoots - a basketball team of Goodyear associates playing in the National Amateur Athletic Union Basketball League - won the AAU National Championship. One of the players on that team went on to become an Olympic gold medallist, an all-star professional player, a championship coach at both the college and professional levels and a member of basketball's Hall of Fame: New York Knicks head coach Larry Brown.

This season, Goodyear is honoring one of its own by introducing a "throwback" basketball jersey - the white Goodyear Wingfoots game jersey featuring the number "44" worn by Larry Brown during the 1964 AAU Championship season. Brown's current team, the New York Knicks, is offering the jersey at a special price to those fans purchasing its creative mini-season-ticket plan, called "The Brown Seats."

A portion of the proceeds from sales of the jersey throughout the NBA season will be donated to The Painted Turtle, a camp and family care center in southern California for children with life-threatening illnesses. Brown and his wife, Shelly, are two of the founders of The Painted Turtle and serve on its board of directors.

The uniform shirt has been offered for sale at the NBA Store in New York City, and will be available during the NBA season at Madison Square Garden, Goodyear's gift shop in Akron, Ohio, and other locations.

Licensed by Academy Uniforms and Promotions of North Canton, Ohio, the jersey features a white body, with Goodyear-blue-and-gold trim and lettering in the style of the 1964 team. This version has additional details, including an approved AAU logo on the left shoulder strap, a wingfoot logo on the back collar, and the name "Brown" over the number on the back. It also comes with a basketball card-style tag, with a photo of Brown from his playing days in Akron and a brief history of the Wingfoots.

Goodyear's basketball history

In the late 1930s, companies such as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company formed the National Basketball League (NBL) to showcase their elite teams. Goodyear won the first NBL championship in 1938. In 1949, some of the existing NBL teams merged with the Basketball Association of America (BAA) to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). Five current NBA teams can trace their roots back to the NBL. Goodyear suspended operation of its Wingfoots team during World War II and was not included in the NBA plan. They remained with other similar teams in the National Industrial Basketball League (NIBL), which became the National AAU Basketball League in 1961.

The 1964 AAU champions featured three players who went on to earn Olympic gold medals in 1964: Brown, Dick Davies and Pete McCaffrey.

Larry Brown

A native of Brooklyn, NY, Larry Brown has been a successful college and professional basketball coach for more than 30 years. He has won over 1,200 professional games and this season is expected to surpass the 1,000-win total in his NBA coaching career. He is the only coach in NBA history to lead seven different teams to the playoffs. In 2004, he guided the Detroit Pistons to the NBA championship, becoming the first coach to win both an NCAA title (1988, Kansas) and an NBA crown.

As a player, Brown was an All-Atlantic Coast Conference guard as a senior in 1963. He played one season with Akron's Goodyear Wingfoots before winning an Olympic gold medal as a member of the U.S. team in 1964. He resumed his playing career in 1967, beginning a five-year stint in the ABA, making the All-Star team three times. His professional coaching career began in 1973 when he guided the Carolina Cougars. He was named ABA Coach of the Year three times (1973, 1975, 1976).

Brown also has enjoyed success in college having led the UCLA Bruins to the NCAA Championship game in 1980 and the University of Kansas Jayhawks to the 1988 NCAA Championship. He was enshrined as a coach in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September 2002.

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