HISTORY 1949-1970 The U.S. Rubber Company made the first pair of rubber-soled canvas shoes called Keds in 1916. The brand became popular with athletes in the mid-1920s, but it was not until 1949 when they established PRO-Keds, a brand division that focused on performance sport product geared for athletes, specifically basketball players.
The first style of PRO-Keds was a canvas hi-top basketball shoe known as the Royal. Originally marketed as the “Sureshot”, it was an innovative sneaker designed with the more serious athlete in mind. In the early 1950s, George Mikan, basketball’s first true big man, endorsed the Royal and he and all his teammates on the 1953-1954 Minneapolis Lakers wore this shoe en route to a World Championship that season. The team would go on to win six championships between 1948 and 1955.