Bryant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the youngest of three children and the only son of Joe Bryant and Pamela Cox Bryant. He is also the maternal nephew of John Chubby Cox. His parents named him after the famous beef of Kobe, Japan, which they saw on a restaurant menu.
Harold Alfond. Harold Alfond (March 6, 1914 â November 16, 2007) was an American businessman who founded the Dexter Shoe Company and established the first factory outlet store.
By 1917, these sneakers began to be mass produced. (They got the nickname sneakers because they were so quiet, a person wearing them could sneak up on someone.) That same year, Marquis Converse produced the first shoe made just for basketball, called Converse All-Stars. In 1923, an Indiana hoops star named Chuck Taylor endorsed the shoes, and they became known as Chuck Taylor All-Stars. These are the best-selling basketball shoes of all time. Sneakers Go Global. Sneakers went international in 1924.