words & images // Zack Schlemmer
This 1994-95 Upper Deck card is one of my favorite cards ever, because it depicts one of the greatest posterization dunks of all time. Here we see Scottie Pippen slamming it down over Patrick Ewing in the Nike Air Flight Swift during the 1994 NBA Playoffs when he was the team leader for the Jordan-less Bulls. Although New York went on to beat Chicago and eventually made it to the Finals, this dunk was by far the highlight of that series.
Ron Harper in the same Air Swifts got a lot of love in the comments for last Friday's Kicks on Cards Collection, so I thought I would bring the shoe back for another look today. On this Scottie Pippen card, we actually get a good look at the shoe on both the front and back of the card. (Derek Harper on the floor in the background of the picture is wearing an awesome black and blue colorway of the Air Swift, seen on his Upper Deck card from the same year.) One of the shoes associated with Scottie Pippen before he had his official signature line, the Air Swift is a classic, but often overlooked shoe from the early 90's Flight line from Nike. Similar to the Nike Air Maestro, another shoe worn by Scottie, the Air Swift was a shoe for guards and forwards and also notably worn by Penny Hardaway early in his career.
[For detailed photos and tech features of the shoe, check out Nick DePaula's write-up of the Air Swift from the Sole Collector Archives.]
