words // Zack Schlemmer
images // via Yahoo!
Film Director / Producer / Writer / Actor / New York Knicks #1 Fan / Mars Blackmon, etc. celebrates his 56th birthday today, and we'll honor one of the sneaker community's most beloved celebrities by taking a look at some of his Madison Square Garden courtside kicks worn throughout recent years.
From his days in the late 1980's as Mars Blackmon alongside Michael Jordan in Air Jordan commercials, to the Air Jordan IV and XIII incorporated into two of his best films, (Do The Right Thing and He Got Game, respectively) to the Nike Air Raid campaign and plenty of other Nike sneaker ad appearances along the way, Spike Lee has been ingrained in sneaker culture for nearly thirty years.
Being one of Nike's biggest ambassadors allows certain perks, as you'll see with Spike's impressive rotation of sneakers throughout the years, including his own signature shoe, the Air Jordan Spiz'ike, which combines pieces of each Air Jordan from the Mars Blackmon commercials. As a huge Knicks fan, many of Spike's courtside kicks are flavored in blue and orange, like his exclusive Air Foamposite One and Air Jordan XX8 colorways.
Check out Spike Lee's amazing collection of courtside kicks below...and these are only the ones we found pictures of! Happy birthday, Spike!
Air Jordan 11 Retro -- 2001
Air Jordan XVIII -- 2003 @ Michael Jordan's Last Game at the Garden
Air Force 1 Chamber of Fear "Haters" -- 2005
Air Jordan Spiz'ike -- 2006
LeBron IV "Grafitti" -- 2006
Air Force 1 -- 2008
Air Jordan Spiz'ike -- 2006
Air Max 90 -- 2010
Air Max 95 -- 2010
Air Trainer SC -- 2010
Blazer -- 2010
Zoom Kobe 6 -- 2011
Air Jordan Spiz'ike -- 2011
Air Jordan Spiz'ike -- 2012
Air Jordan Spiz'ike -- 2012
Air Foamposite One Metallic Red -- 2012
Air Jordan Son of Mars
Air Force 1 Foamposite -- 2012
Air Jordan XX8 -- 2012
Air Foamposite One "Knicks" -- 2013
Air Jordan 1 "Knicks" -- 2013