They went from standard hoops equipment a century ago to chic celebrity style today.
Along the way, Chuck Taylor All Stars became among the best-selling athletic shoes ever — long before such well-known brands like Air Jordan.
In recent years, they have become something of a sign of individuality on the feet of public figures ranging from late artist Andy Warhol to current U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
Bloomington resident and veteran storyteller David Matlack will cover that and more in a free, one-hour, in-person presentation “Chuck Taylor Converse All Star: The Man Who Made the Shoe” at 6 p.m. June 15 on the patio of the Bartholomew County Public Library, 536 Fifth St. in downtown Columbus. His performance is made possible by the Sharing Hoosier History through Stories series sponsored by the Indiana Historical Society and Storytelling Arts of Indiana, Inc.
The 62-year-old Matlack will speak from his reading and research on Taylor, who was raised in Columbus after his Brown County birth and attended Columbus High School before embarking on a career with Converse as a top salesman and celebrated basketball clinician.
But Matlack also will talk partly from a measure of personal experience — his first pair of “Chucks” in junior high. They were bright green, reflecting his school colors, before becoming a red pair in high school in keeping with his color-coded school spirit.
“They had just come out with the school colors then,” Matlack said.
Matlack just came out with his Taylor presentation last month, doing his first spiel on the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee at an Indianapolis appearance.
In true traditional, storytelling fashion, he uses no props, video screens, Power Point, you name it…except for his black Chucks and a Converse t-shirt.
“It allows your audience to form their own pictures in their mind, Matlack said. “The more you as a storyteller can appeal to and engage all their senses, the more real everything can be come to them. In a sense, their own mental image actually can be even more real than an actual photograph you might show.”
Matlack has discovered that most members of the public have assumed that Taylor, who was born in 1901 and died in 1969, became a pro basketball star. But his exploits predated the NBA, and the most he ever played was semi-pro ball for teams such as the Akron Firestones and, of course, the Converse All Stars — although they regularly attracted 6,000 people and more at basketball clinics in Indiana and elsewhere.
Plus, Converse adopted Taylor’s recommended changes for the shoe it introduced in 1917. The soon-to-be famous shoe began bearing Taylor’s name and signature on the now-well-known circular ankle patch in 1932.
Matlack laughed when asked if he was gifted soon after he began storytelling after seeing the shoes at a festival in Tennessee more than 30 years ago.
“Oh, no,” he said with a chuckle. “But I guess I developed a certain presentation style. I had to learn timing, and things like the right mix of humor and drama. And I do all my stories from memory, because I find that my writing voice is different than my everyday speaking voice.
“And if I write something down, I have found that I begin to sound like I am reciting a written presentation, rather than simply speaking (casually).”
Matlack was the 2016 winner of the Annual Liar’s Contest at the Indiana State Fair and has performed for Ghost Stories at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis since 2015. Other credits include “The Oracle of Delphi: A Grand History of the Delphi Opera House,” a story he premiered for If These Walls Could Tell Series in 2018.
For now, he considers his new Taylor presentation his second favorite of all his performances. He has discovered that his storytelling gift has enhanced his full-time job as the director of the physiology teaching labs at Indiana University Bloomington.
“I find that if people can be given an emotional hook to a subject, I think that they remember it better,” he said. “So I definitely do a little storytelling even in the classroom.”
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Who: Award-winning storyteller David Matlack of Bloomington presenting "Chuck Taylor Converse All Star: The Man Who Made the Shoe."
When: 6 p.m. June 15.
Where: The patio of the Bartholomew County Public Library, 536 Fifth St. in downtown Columbus.
Cost: Free.
Information: mybcpl.org
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