What was great about Penny was that he was always expressive and always willing to push the limits in terms of aesthetics and expression.
The quote above from the Air Penny lead designer, Eric Avar, paints a great picture of what Penny Hardaway meant to the Nike Basketball division.
What many sneaker enthusiast would be surprised to discover is that the Uptempo line spawned from the Air Penny. To compliment the Max Air unit in the heel, this model debuted the Tensile Air system which improved the amount of court feel the sneaker had. This feature went on to be re-branded Zoom Air.
With a signature sneaker series that was only rivaled by the Air Jordan series, the Air Penny from Nike is where it all started.
Take a look below at the sketch evolution of the Air Penny along with a pretty minimalistic advertisement.
