Last week, 6-foot-6-inch, 225-pound Oregon freshman forward Joevan Catron got an unexpected call from a former Oregon star.
Aaron Brooks, who guided the Ducks to the NCAA Elite Eight this winter, was on his cell phone at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, which is about 30 minutes from Catron’s hometown of Phoenix, Ill. Brooks was calling to ask Catron where he could find a pair of sneakers – Brooks lost his and thought he might have left them in Las Vegas, where he spent part of the past month doing pre-NBA Draft workouts.
It’s no wonder Brooks contacted Catron first. Along with being a proud Illinois native, he is perhaps the Ducks’ biggest shoe fanatic – he doesn’t stop at just buying a fresh pair of Air Force 1s or Timberlands, either. Catron adds extra flavor to his sneakers by painting designs on them. He’s also placed his own personal touch to nearly 50 pairs of shoes he’s designed for both friends and customers.
As much as Catron likes to rip down boards, spin around opponents in the paint and occasionally display some ball-handling skills facing his man, he equally enjoys customizing shoes.”I love it,” Catron said. “Most people (at Oregon) didn’t know about it, but now quite a few people know.”
Brooks, like teammate junior Malik Hairston, learned of Catron’s hobby earlier this year – they both asked to have a pair of white-on-white Nike AF1s spruced up. When Hairston saw Catron sporting a pair that had been painted red, black and white with the Chicago skyline across them, he asked to have his set of sneakers customized with Detroit in mind, though they’ve yet to be constructed.
Catron, who averaged 3.1 points per game and 3.1 rebounds per game off the bench during the 2006-07 season, started adding designs and color to shoes and T-shirts during his senior year at Thornton Township High School in Illinois. The first shoe he designed was an old pair of AF1s. With an Apple Jacks cereal box in front of him, he got out his brushes and went to work.
“I tried to put the apple and the little cinnamon thing on the shoe and it didn’t come out the way I wanted,” Catron said. “I drew it out on paper and tried it again and it came out right.”
It was only a matter of time before Catron’s high school teammates wanted him to paint their shoes. During basketball season alone, he did four pairs.
“I had it down pat,” Catron said. “On weekends I would do it for a few teammates. I made sure we looked the best out of anybody by keeping it between us.”
Catron has created all kinds of one-of-a-kind designs. He made Fruit Loops and Cinnamon Toast Crunch-themed shirts with shoes to match. He added Oregon colors to a pair of Nike Air Maxs. He may be the only person in the world with the Honey Nut Cheerios bee on a pair of Timberland boots.
Catron said he loves art and is pursuing a degree in it. He’s always enjoyed drawing, so putting acrylic paint on shoes came naturally to him.
“If I come up with something in my head, I just try to draw it on paper,” Catron said. “If I can put it on paper, I can paint it.”
Make no mistake though – Catron doesn’t just customize shoes for free. He charges anywhere from $30 to $50 for his work, depending on how intricate the design is and how long it takes him. During a pep rally in high school last year, he said he made nearly $500.
“I’ll always cut deals,” Catron added.
Catron said he only uses acrylic paint on shoes and sprays the final product with a protective solution that coats the paint and extends the life of the artwork.
“(If you don’t spray the shoes), everything breaks off or cracks too easily and it makes it hard on me having to go over it,” Catron said. “The shoes are not made to wear everyday so, if you do, of course they are going to wear out faster.”
The time it takes Catron to customize a shoe varies. Last week, he worked from 10 p.m. until midnight adding blue coloring to one of his pairs of all-white size-14 AF1s. (He said he wears size 15 shoes in games to give him more room). Once in high school, he worked on two pairs of women’s sneakers on and off for about a week. One girl requested he put the Lucky Charms Leprechaun on her pair and another wanted Dora the Explorer. Catron nailed both designs.
O.K., what’s with the cereal designs though?
“Those look pretty cool and the colors come out to look pretty nice,” Catron said. “They are also pretty easy to draw. Like a bee, or the Cinnamon Toast Crunch man – actually he was kind of hard to draw.”
Of course, one goal of shoe customization – which more often than not involves subtle artistic additions – is to create a pair of sneakers that no one else has.
“You try to give them exclusive or bright colors, something that stands out,” Catron said.
And Eugene, the birthplace of the Nike shoe, is not a bad place for a shoe fan to end up, either. Catron’s locker is stuffed with black, white and green sneakers, and he said there are even more in his dorm room in Barnhart Hall. He received a pair of Nikes to match each new uniform this season, which meant four different designs. Though his Nike Zoom Five Jason Kidds have his name stitched right in, Catron injected his own artistic touch by adding a little extra color to a pair of Nike Huarache 64s that he wore a couple times this year.
Catron said he has already fielded some interest from fellow students who want their sneakers customized. He said he should have more time to take some submissions next fall.
“If basketball fails, I want to open up a business or design shoes for Nike,” Catron said.