There are certain people, or a group of people, that when you meet them, you recognize that there is something different, almost to the point of odd about them. Well, that can be said of 5 Black men who found their way to Ann Arbor, MI in the fall of 1991.The soon-to-be-dubbed Michigan Fab Five hit the University of Michigan hard and they quickly became the hottest attraction at BIG BLUE, overshadowing the football team which finished first in the conference and ranked No. 6 overall in every poll (10-2). (This is the same team that boasted Heisman Trophy winner…Desmond Howard.)
Rose, Jackson, King, Howard and Webber: five fabulous players, but only one shoe is needed to define them. The first time the team broke out this new pair of Nikes, every kid wondered "what IS that on their feet"? Distinctive, SWOOSHLESS, bold & flashy, nothing like we've ever seen before - much like their game. Make no mistake about it; the Huaraches were the coming-out-party kicks that put them on the map. The Fab 5 even requested Nike to make an all black pair just for them.
Long baggy shorts, black socks, cocky attitude, alley-ooping, trash talking and oh yeah, a little game too. You could say the game was re-invented. They played with an urban mindset - a ghetto style of hoops that revolutionized millions of youngsters to come. It was not just dope but it was also marketable. Would there even be an AND1 Mix Tour today if the Michigan Fab 5 hadn't paved the way for the generations to come?
The Fab Five records may have been erased from the record books, but their legacy of ballin' with a swagger will live on forever similarly to the Air Flight Huarache.
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