That's what Galloway suspects, anyway. They were his first pair of Jordan 13's, the ones Ray Allen and Denzel Washington made famous in 'He Got Game.' A reward from his parents for his good grades. Galloway wore them everywhere, wore them home from the Footaction in Baton Rouge, wore them outside and on the basketball court, wore them until they broke down. Then one day they were gone.
"I was shocked, like, where my shoes at? And my mom was like, 'What are you talking about, what shoes?' We never could find them, so I’m assuming she threw them away. From then on I was like, alright, I’m gonna get 'em back and then just keep collecting from there," Galloway says.
He says this as he's standing inside his own dream, surrounded by some 600 pairs of sneakers he's spent years -- and who knows how much cash -- collecting. He's got another 500 or so back home in Louisiana. Galloway's sneaker obsession is well known; he wears a new pair of custom kicks every time the Pistons take the floor. The story about his first Jordan's is old, if ageless. But when Galloway meets us at his front door, leads us upstairs and then opens the door to his lab? This is new.
As we step inside his home, he graciously makes one request: "Just take off your shoes." (Speaking of irony.) I ditch my foolish-looking lime-green Vans, hoping our host hasn't seen them. Evan, our web producer/resident sneakerhead, slides off his Air Max 97 Neon Seoul's. Galloway nods his head in respect, game recognize game.
When it comes to sneaker collections, Evan isn't easily impressed. He's got the real deal in his own basement. He'll even make Galloway do a double-take later in our conversation when he tells him he snagged the Off-White Jordan 5's in a recent raffle on the Nike SNKRs app. "You got those!?" says Galloway, snapping his head around. "Oh my goodness." But the moment we come upon Galloway's collection, Evan goes quiet. His eyes are scanning the walls so quickly, so wildly, I honestly think he might faint.
Galloway gives us a little background, as I wait for Evan to gather his bearings. He did wind up getting another pair of Jordan 13's, once he could afford them in college. He still has the Kobe 5's or 6's -- the ones "with the spikes" -- that he wore when he led St. Joseph's to the NCAA Tournament his senior year. Right now, he's big on "all the school pick-ups," like the Oregon Jordan 13's and the Michigan Jordan 11's.
At last, a word from Evan. He wants to know about a pair of old Jordan 12's he's spotted that only came in women's sizes. Evan confesses he bought them anyway, because he had to have them. Galloway did the same. Turns out, he's done it a few times. Sneakerheads, man.
"They’ve kind of let me have my own freelance to do whatever I want with the shoes," says Galloway. "I’ve had all my shoes customized, all of them different."
If you've watched a Pistons game the past couple years, you've noticed. The NBA did away with its shoe restrictions starting last season. Players these days can wear whatever their hearts desire. Galloway's heart is tethered to his childhood, a ball on a nylon string. He grew up on the cartoons and movies of the '90s. Now he splashes the characters on his sneakers, bringing them back to life. He's a man of his own and a walking re-run, every beautiful night.
The ideas for the sneakers belong to Galloway. He laughs when I ask if he ever runs out of inspiration: "The '90s has too much cartoons and movies. There’s always something." The designs (mostly) come courtesy of the well-known sneaker artist Andrew Lewis, who turns around an idea in just a couple days. It was all pretty smooth when Lewis lived in Minneapolis. Then he upped and moved to Vegas. Sometimes, Galloway laughs, the sneakers will arrive on his doorstep a couple hours before tip-off and his wife will rush them off to the area.
It's this kind of commitment to his craft that puts Galloway in a league of his own in the NBA.
It's freedom that really defines Galloway's obsession. The sneakers he buys and the sneakers he creates are a canvas for his personality. They allow him to tell us who he is, to share himself with the world. In this way, his kicks stand for freedom of expression. Sometimes, like just the other day, Galloway will lie on the carpeted floor of this room and let his eyes wander the walls, "admiring the scene."
"It's a lot of hard work that’s gone into this, and there’s a lot of players that have been commemorated with all these shoes," he says. "I kind of look back and I'm like, man, this is pretty cool to see what they’ve done with their careers and what I continue to do with mine, trying to customize and build my brand. I could be in here for hours, just looking."
Before we leave, I ask Evan if he's got anything else to add. He does, so we spend a few more minutes talking about the Vince Carter Shox -- the ones up there on the top shelf, signed by Carter himself -- and which player has the best sneaker out right now. It's Kyrie, in Galloway's estimation. He's as engaging now as the moment we walked in. As we finally head for the door, Evan stops, halted by his eyes, and points toward one last case.
"Oh, you got those Deion Sanders?"