WWII and the uniforms worn by soldiers heavily influenced the wardrobe of Boomer kids in the early 50’s, particularly boys. We wore olive drab wool trousers, leather flight jackets, pilot-type leather caps and army boots. We all had crew cuts and looked like miniature GIs marching off to school.
The old Army/Navy stores sold genuine surplus goods from the war effort. It was the most favored store to visit for young men, who then raced home to beg their moms for some extra money for an Air Force knapsack, or an Army blanket, or a bayonet. A bayonet? No way, Jose. But we tried.
Somewhere around 1953 or 1954, things began to change with the army look. One of the kids in my fourth grade class, Bobby Shultz, came to school one day in a pair of black, high top tennis shoes. Suddenly, those army boots weren’t quite as appealing. Ever try to run in a pair of high-top leather army boots? It was like Forest Gump trying to get away from the school bullies while wearing his leg braces. With a pair of tennis shoes, it was, “Run Forest. Run.”
Tennis shoes, we called them “tenners”, would change the way we dressed. I immediately begged my parents for a pair tennis shoes to wear to school and mom finally agreed, but only to be worn in dry weather or in the spring. There would be no tennis shoe wearing in the snow. But could I take them to school in my knapsack, and change there? Agreed, my mom said. Naturally, as soon as I was out of sight on my walk to school, I ditched the boots, put them in the knap sack and laced up my tenners. In the snow, they got soaking wet, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to wear tennis shoes, and the brand of choice was U.S. Keds.
U.S. Rubber introduced U.S. Keds in the early 1900’s. Basketball players wore them and we all wanted to be Bob Cousy or Jerry West. Keds were first marketed as canvas-top “sneakers”. They became known as sneakers because the rubber soles supposedly allowed sneaking around silently.
A pair of spiffy new U.S. Keds was advertised for $5.95 in 1955. I had to beg my dad to let me spend that much. He thought a $2 pair from Montgomery Ward would have served the purpose. But who wanted Montgomery Ward tennis shoes? The U.S. Keds symbol, that round rubber seal on the sides, represented the epitome of coolness. Mom finally let me get them.
There was a downside of wearing tennis shoes and getting them wet, either from the rain or snow or from perspiration, and that was odor. Walking into any classroom, all you could smell was feet. Nasty, stinking feet. But we got used to it. No choice, really. I remember the shoe salesmen at J.C. Penny recoiling in horror when a young Boomer in a pair of old tenners came in with his mom to try on new shoes. Those clerks earned every penny, I can vouch for that.
Today, the sale of tennis shoes is a multi-billion industry. One pair can go for $200 or more, and the average price – made in China, no less – runs $70 or $80. Who would have ever thought that Bobby Shultz would have had that much influence?