May 11, 2022 • 44 mins
Jeremy Sallee is currently the Head of Design for PUMAHoops and spent his first year of college playing basketball at Division 3 school Case Western Reserve before walking-on to the University of Akron Men’s Basketball team from 2005 through 2008.
Jeremy played in 19 games as a walk-on behind Dru Joyce Jr., the newly-named Associate Head Coach at Duquesne University. Jeremy was given a scholarship the following year, but said it still never really felt like he even had one, leaving a bad taste towards basketball.
Jeremy and Noah also talk about:
• Designing shoes for J. Cole and LaMelo Ball
• The drive that being a walk-on gave him
• Playing pick-up with & against LeBron James
• How he got the job offer from PUMA & why he chose them
• Finding happiness & handling success
Jeremy has 3 degrees in Fashion Design, Graphic Design and Business and has worked for: Ralph Lauren, Reebok and now PUMA. He also is the Founder, Owner and Creative Director of Freeman Platt, a luxury shoe company.
Jeremy’s socials : IG - @jeremy.sallee, Twitter - @jermsal10
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Hello, Yeah, what's up, Walkie Talkies?
(00:28):
Welcome back to episode five of Walkie Talkies podcast on
the College Athletes Network. Featured on I Heart Radio. Coolest
walk on in the country. I'm your host, noa bono.
So my first two favors of the show before we
get into the interview is I'm sure you can already
guess is to please make sure you are subscribed and
downloaded to Walkie Talkies podcast. And secondly is to please
leave the show a review if you'd be so kind,
(00:50):
just a couple of stars, maybe even write something if
you feel like it. It's a really big help for
the show. So I'd really appreciate that. And now that
I'm done begging you, let's get into today's episode. Today's
episodes A banger, straight up banger. That's that's what it is.
Today's episod it is with Jeremy Sale, who is currently
the head of design for Puma Basketball and was a
former walk on with the University of Akron back in
(01:11):
two thousand six up to two thousand nine under my
former coach at Duquesne, Keith Dan Brott, who is an
acron legend. So Jeremy started his career at a D
three school case Western four year played basketball there before
transferring to Akron to become a walk on. And that's
kind of where the episode will start when I introduced
the interview. But just some quick side notes for what
(01:31):
else you can expect to hear. Um. You know, the
episode starts off with his walk on journey and the
hardships and details of it and how tough it was. Uh.
And you know, he talks about being given a scholarship
but how it didn't really feel like he was given one.
Why that was. He then touches on his experiences with
Lebron James and his memories of being around him and
just how cool that was. Uh. He talks about how
(01:53):
the Puma opportunity came about for him, why he chose
them over some other big name brands, what it was
like working with j Cole LaMelo Ball and designing shoes
for the two of them, uh, and his motivation to
now knock Nike's head off now that he's in the
position he's in, which I thought was great. You know,
There's so much more mixed in there too, about his
business he started along the way, you know him having
(02:14):
three degrees and fashion design, graphic design, and business which
is incredible. Uh. And just what he learned and took
with him into his career from being a walk on
really cool stuff. So you know what time it is, people,
It's time for me to shut the hell up, get
the hell out of the way and give you my
full conversation with former walk on from the University of
Akron basketball team and now head of design with Puma Basketball,
(02:35):
Jeremy Silly. So, you started off at a Division three school.
You went to case Western Reserve, which Division three school
out in Ohio. UM, you end up, after averaging your
freshman year nine points four assists per game, you end
up going to transfer to the University of Akron under
coach Keith dan Brott. And this was two thousand five
(02:56):
through two thousand eight. And what went into that decision?
You you were playing at a D three school, you
were getting minutes, you were like pretty much a big
focal point of the team at a young age. UM,
and then you decided to take the D one route
walk on route. What kind of went into that decision
and how that opportunity UM come about for you, uh,
(03:17):
In terms of the decision, um, I mean when I
was in high school, I got recruited by a lot
of IVY League school so I was like, my parents
are also going through a divorce, so I was like,
I wanted to stay close to home at that year.
So the the original goal was to go to case
Western and then transferred to Seaton Hall, which I had
a coach that I played with, had a camp with
in high school that was gonna let me play there.
(03:39):
And you know it was case Western was great. I
got a lot of good friends from there. Um had
a good time. I didn't I wouldn't really never a
score in high school. So it's like a case actually
got to expand that part of our game a little bit.
And again, I mean it didn't really translate the next level.
But that was the fun. That was probably the most
fun offensive year of my of my career, just because
(03:59):
it was it was just the way it was easy,
It was easier, and I just I just had a
good time. I was just having a good time that
fort Um. But I mean I was super I'm smart.
I was smart at coming out of high school. So
like Yale and Harvard and all those and penn An Army,
and like, you know, those are the schools I wouldn't
to visit, and they wouldn't get full scholarships, so it's
like half scholarship. Plus they didn't give scholarships for the
(04:21):
things I wanted to do, which was design shoes, so
it's like wasting money at the same time. So I
ended up a case Western because they had a pre
architecture degree and it was cool. Um in terms of
like the transfer. I knew I was leaving after that
first year. And one I think my no, my uncle
worked as a in a janitorial services at Akron and
(04:43):
he told he and I guess coach coach uh the
new I don't know if they knew each other or
I don't know how he got me into the open gym,
but there's an open gym and he said you come
He said, you come down and go to open gym.
And I came in and played good at the open gym.
Obviously I played hard defense, probably harder than everybody else,
just because you know, you want to put your best
(05:04):
foot for forward. Uh. And they had just lost was
his name, oh man, Mario. He's no a little defender,
too small to me, but he was like a little
scrappy defender dude. It was on the team, and uh
I felt like it was like a replacement almost, like
like they saw that I could be that type of
dude for a team and play good. Rome apparently roll
(05:25):
must I think Rome might have vouch for me after
the open gym Romeo Travis. Yeah, yeah, Rome vouch for
me after the open gym, and they hit me up
when I was at disney World with my family, like
a couple of weeks later, it was like, you come
play And I was like, what so that was? I
was literally at disney World that the last one was
at disney World. That was great. So I mean you
(05:47):
you knew you were going to come in there and
be a walk on? Did you not care that it
was a walk on title? Did you kind of know
what that even meant? Or like it was just like
I'm just going here to hoop. I don't really give
a shit about this title, like it is what it is. Like,
I like, how did that kind of work out for you? Yeah?
I didn't really. I mean it was never you know
for me, it was like I either go I could
have went and played somewhere on half scholarship in one
(06:08):
of those other schools, right, but I couldn't do I
want to do after basketball, So it was like this
was a nice happy medium, and you know, when you're young,
I just didn't understand. Uh, you know, you just don't
know when you're young, You're you like you laugh at
like when buck Nel sends you letters and wants you
to come visit and all that stuff. But that I
went to the tournament that year, I got the accurate
(06:30):
so it was like, you know, I could have I
could have been a buck them. So I was like,
you know, all these things, you just didn't understand. You know,
if if you had, you know, it's it's you just
didn't know what you get yourself. And you're so young
and stupid at that point, like you could have went anywhere.
But you know, as in terms of Walker, I just
want to play divisual on basketball. So it's like I
could care less who I was playing for. How I'm
(06:51):
gonna get to that point I did. I probably didn't
understand what it was gonna be like for sure, Uh,
but you know I was ready for whatever at that point.
How long do you think like you were there for
until you kind I got an understanding of what it
was actually going to be like for the rest of
your you know, three years there, Like did it click
at any point? I mean the only I mean, the
(07:14):
first year was a red shirt year, so that was
probably the best thing that happened was I got to
red shirt with the rest of the incoming freshman the
next year and I lived with them in the freshman
dorm and all that, so it was like it was
like starting over. So that was nice. So we got
to all like come together and like you know, be
red shirts together and learned together and catch up with
the speed of the game together, and you know, you
you start to understand. That's when you understand when you
(07:34):
finally get to it. The first week in condition was
obviously awful, you know, the mild test and all that
stuff that we gotta do. I went home every weekend.
I drove for four hours every weekend just because I
was like, it was so terrible. What I've been using
in high school was terrible. But that first year case
Western everything was easy. So it was like I got
to get back into, you know, the terribleness of training again, right,
(07:59):
And you're referring, dude, the training during a red shirt year.
That being terrible, that's what you're well, it was just conditioning.
Conditioning was what really got me. Practice was fine, but
conditioning was like the whole I was back to the
you know, terrible. It was just it has been a
long time, you've you've been through it, so you know, man,
(08:19):
we were running the mile this past summer and I
was like, and I you know, I'm a year five
last rodeo. I'm like, I cannot wait to never be
put back on this track and told to run this
damn mile. Um. So after sitting out your first year,
you actually played in nineteen games. Uh, and what was
considered your junior year but red shirt sophomore year two
(08:41):
thousand and six, two thousand seven seasons. So like, it's
not very common for a walk on to get in
the game and be considered a backup. He considered some
sort of role player unless you're you know, teams getting
blown out or you guys are blown them out. So
what do you think was helping you get on the
court that often and be able to earn Coach D's
trust and used, you know, consistently as a backup for
(09:01):
I think you were backing up Drew Joyce at the time,
if I'm not mistaking right, Yeah, yeah, man, it was
everything was going good at that point. Uh. You know,
I played hard. I worked hard. I always I could
play at that level. And it was you know, it
wasn't that I didn't have all the look I didn't
get all the looks that everybody at but I got
a lot of looks. So it's like it was nothing crazy.
And you know, I work hard to what I was
supposed to do, try to win every every up and back.
(09:23):
I could play as hard defense as I could not
mess up, you know, take care of the ball um
and Drew. And Drew respected me because you know I'm
gonna give. I'm gonna give whoever hell whoever is in
front of me, so you can ask You asked McNeice
about that when he first got there. I know you
couldn't stand that ship. But yeah, it was. It was
good and it was just playing hard, just you know,
you got in position. Drew trust me, Drew vouch for
(09:45):
me senior night after the season was over and said
we got a good point guard and Silee, I was like, oh,
this might happen. So but you know, that's the part
of the Walk on Life. I thought it was gonna
be right. So you definitely earned some sort of trust
and and like, uh a relationship with coach d and
the rest of the staff for them to be vouching
for you. And and you're you know, you're starting point
(10:05):
guard at the time to be vouching for you to
get in the lineup. So what do you think, like
like what kind of went south for you? And in
terms of like not getting maybe what you ultimately set
out to get while you were there, Like do you
do you have anything of mine? Like what what do
you think maybe went wrong? What what didn't go what
you the way you thought it would go. I mean,
for me, it's still like a I still I still
think there's politics within basketball, especially at that level. There's
(10:28):
still like, uh, you know, scholarship players that are coming
in and that you know, the coaches have brought in
that they want to go on the court too. You know,
I got a scholarship after that year. But with the
scholarship came the stipulation of you have to do whatever
we say do and you know, when you get it,
you're like, I'll do whatever you want me to do.
But what that meant was for me to be it forever,
(10:48):
walk a real walk on and not be the guy
after that was coming up. Wow, they gave you a scholarship,
but going into your senior year, yeah, my last year,
Um yeah, after my after the year I played, after
my reshirt year, I played that next year. I got
a scholarship for the last year, but you were still
pretty much a walk on, even though they're now paying
for that. Was like that was looking back at it,
(11:10):
it's like, uh, that was the point. I remember that.
I remember he said, he's act, I'm gonna give you
a scholars but you gotta do exactly what we say.
And with that game, even if you're doing better than
somebody else, you gotta sit there and take it like
you gotta take it like a champion and just be
be there for the team and do what you gotta do.
And that was like for me, was the turning point
because I, like I said, everything was going good the
(11:32):
year the Drew left and I felt like this was
my that was gonna be my time. I've got in
the weight room off some of that year I was
running miles, but it was it was a good year.
And then I start actually started the first game of
the season. Started the first game, the first real game,
not the exhibition game. Like the first he had a
tournament in Alaska, and I started that game. Uh, I
(11:53):
have any turn honors play solid. I think I messed
up at the I messed up at the end, and
I had there was a call it. I didn't run
to play correctly, but it was like it wasn't un
crazy enough to like never ever play a game type
of That's what happened afterwards. So did you not end
up playing the rest of the year. I mean, I played,
but it was like less than I played when when
Drew was there. Really I felt like it was just
(12:14):
like it. It may not have been I may be wrong,
it may have been the same or more. I don't know,
but it felt like because you're you're you know, you're
expecting one thing and then you just got completely different.
So then it became like a mental battle. At that
point of I probably went up and had up ups
and downs of you know, fucking fuck it seasons where
I was like, I'm just gonna do what I don't
(12:35):
I'm just gonna do whatever. At this point, Uh, work,
I still worked hard and played hard and did all
that stuff. But it was like, you know, maybe I
shot more than I would normally shooting practice, and like
I remember practice we got hot, the whole team was hot.
We'd be hot and we're just clowning the whole time
and just kill another team every once in a while,
and uh, you just have like it's just a different
(12:56):
mental thing. You just gotta kind of like get through
it at that point, right, That's what I was gonna
ask next. It's like, how did I mean even though
you weren't technically a walk on, but how did that
whole walk on into scholarship was still kind of a
walk on? How that you know in the moment, were
you hating it? Were you're loving it? A little bit
of both? Or towards that last year you were you know,
you said a couple of moments you had the fun
at mentality, but like we're ultimately were you landing and
(13:19):
that last year like I can't wait for the ship
to be over like and move on. Like last year
was definitely the worst year. It was definitely worse year.
It was like, you know, and I did other stuff,
so like a lot of people, most of our team,
all we did was played basketball, Like but I did
other stuff, right, So I had classes that I had
to take to graduate on time. So I end up
saying another year because I had to do practice in
the morning and couldn't take your classes. I need to tape, right,
(13:42):
So I like sacrifice that stuff obviously, So I had
another year of eligibility obviously, but I didn't do it
because of that that fact then, because I was mentally
like over being overlooked. So it was like that was
definitely the worst year. But I had met my now
wife at that point. It's admitted a little bit better,
but you know, it was it was tough, man, it
was tough. Every wasn't really nothing, I hear you. What
(14:05):
can you Yeah, it's a full, full time, unpaidful you
know pretty much. Um, but can you try to paint,
you know for people listening, just a little bit of
a picture of like you know when you say, man,
it was just hard, like I want to just you know,
I just needed something else, like I was being overlooked,
Like was it the being overlooked part that was really
just like I'm tired, You're tired of this. You want
(14:27):
to you know, move into a field or focus on
the things you were now doing um, but at the
time going to be doing you want to focus on
that more like just kind of paint that picture of
what you mean. I mean, it was like, uh, you knew,
you know, I'm a winner, So like the coach d knows.
You can ask coach coach knows I'm winnering he said
that no s to LEAs a winner. But it was
(14:47):
like knowing that but also knowing that you weren't gonna
get an opportunity to do what you know you could do.
So it was like getting through the season every day
and knowing that you're knocking. You still may not get it,
and you may get a look every once in a while,
get pulled over to the to the white team every
every couple of practices. And then there's also the pressure
(15:09):
of when you do get the opportunity, if you mess
up just a little bit, you're right back to where
you were. There's no like, there's no like, uh, you know,
leeway between when you're when you're in that position. But
it wasn't even that, you know, if I could have played,
I was even until the last moment I think I
came to I didn't do Senior Night because I knew
I had another year left, and I came to like
(15:30):
some of the study uh what they called it was
called group. Yeah, I just come to that. I came
to like the first couple after the season was over,
just on some like I don't know what I'm doing still. Uh,
And then it just got to a point where I
just finally made a decision. And then I didn't play
basketball for like two years, like literally didn't touch nothing.
(15:51):
Yeah that's crazy. Also, like you were around Lebron a lot, right,
Like he was around the program like a decent especially
those early years. And Acorn he was still in Cleveland
like you were. I mean, I don't know, he was
coming and playing some open gym and stuff like that.
But do you ever play with her against you know him?
Oh yeah, we want to. Uh. He would go to
his open gyms with I would go with Drew in
Rome and we would take I usually like Drew Rome's act.
(16:14):
Jimmy Conyers used to go with us too. Um, but
I played Bron but then we worked as camp too,
so we played with him after camp, and uh, I
got a couple of good Bron stories. Brown was the
first time, not the first time, I played with Brown.
A couple of times before this, and then I was
coming in from class and they were he had brought
like Chris Paul and d d. Wade and they're in
(16:37):
open gym and I wasn't there in time to play
and I walked in with all my my stuff on.
He was like, is that coach smart? He thought I
was coach smart, shock and smart, and whoever was like, oh,
he played for he played for us. And then the
other one was we're at we worked as camp or
(16:59):
after camp after le bron camp, we would have all
the coaches would played together and Drew Drew Lavender was there.
You know Drew Lavender, a little short dude from Columbus. Uh,
he's him and Brian played in the like state championship
against each other like when I was in high school,
when I was like a freshman or something like that.
(17:20):
But anyway, he went to Oklahoma. He's super short, like
five five five six, um, but I was getting I
came in after that, I got I hit like three
straight threes on him, and Brown was like hyping in that,
hyping the situation up the whole time. That was my
That was my two Bronze stories and my kids, you know,
(17:42):
it's crazy too, because you guys like being at Akron,
especially like that early UM and coach d. S. Acrone days,
Like you guys had the direct hie to Bron because
it was pretty much fresh off when he got out
of high school. Coach he was coaching him, he was
new in the NBA, Like and now we're out here
in Pittsburgh and like we get some cool gear, some
cool bronze shoes or whatever. But I always just think,
(18:03):
I'm like, Lebron ain't ever coming to Pittsburgh, Like he's
got no ties out, he ain't pulling up here to
come to an open gym. So it's like it's just
cool because you guys got the full you know, Acron
basketball Lebron James experience, and we're like, it's great here,
but it's it's a little bit of the aftermath. You know,
it was dope because it was it was us kid
and what was the other there's a little in a
(18:26):
high school or D three school they used to bring
because because Brandon Wings I think went there and he
used to come to the open gyms. But there's four
schools that would come to the open gyms that he
would put on and it would just be at random
gyms sometimes be accurate. Sometimes we uh kid, it'd be
like hitting well, you know what high school was some
(18:46):
place and can just random gyms. But it was funny, man.
It was definitely cool to like look back at it
and be like that that you did that. It's just
you know, yeah, we were like to go tied into
some of That's super cool. Damn, that's so awesome you
got those experiences with lebron Um. I'm definitely jealous. But
all right, everybody stayed put. When we come back, we
get into Jeremy's rise as a designer and becoming the
(19:08):
leader of Puma Basketball and what it was like working
with j Cole and LaMelo Ball and the process designing
their shoes. Uh. This is Walkie Talkies Podcast and I'm
no a Bono, your host. You can find the pod
on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok at w t Z podcast
and you can find me on Twitter and Instagram at
snow dot three. All right, we'll be right back. Guess who.
(19:29):
Walkie Talkies podcast on the College Athletes Network is back
and I'm your host now, Albono. Please make sure you
are subscribed and downloaded. If you're enjoying what you're hearing,
and if you'd be so kind to leave the show
of rating as well, those are also very big helps.
And let's bring back in my guest Jeremy Silly. So
you graduate in two thousand and eight. You have a
degree in fashion, fashion design and graphic design. Is anything
(19:50):
else or is just end business for all three? Okay?
It was like I'm my own creek, had to make
my own curriculum. So wow, that's that's incredible. Um So
you end up working a couple of internships and you're
a freelance shoe designer and time period wise for listening,
it just is like before two you know, this is
like the start of your grind. Um So take us
(20:11):
through like stepping away from the game of basketball, hanging
up the shoes, and how this next journey kind of
started for you. Uh, and the transition you had to
make from the college basketball world I was walk on
and you know, even just being a college athlete in
general into this current career in right now. I think
the the time off was like I don't know if
(20:32):
it was needed, but it was like I just like
almost was disgusted by by the game at that point.
I was just like piste off at the game, So
I just didn't play for I didn't touch the ball
for like a year at least. But when I got
to Reebok, there's a court there, so I started playing again.
But just in terms of like the transition college to
that environment, the big thing probably they came from that
was how hard we worked in college and in the
(20:55):
in the Division one athletics in general, just like how
much how hard it is in transition will in terms
of how hard I worked in the design and industry.
So while everybody else would do I would do a
shoe a day. Um. I would design a shoe a
day and put up on my board at my my
low cubicle when I was an apprentice um at Reebok,
(21:15):
and nobody else did that. And that's how I got
my job halfway through the apprenticeship and had a bunch
of new shoes that came earlier than anybody else had
ever had shoes for the apprenticeship program. So, you know,
it was more like a work ethic thing more than anything.
It was like, you know, you probably you learned how
to survive the adversity of not getting what you wanted,
and if you don't get what you want to, just
(21:37):
keep grinding at it type vibe. That probably translated really
well over to the apprenticeship at reebok. You know, that's
probably the biggest thing. So you work for Reebok um
and you're a senior footwear designer, you're a manager for
seven years, and you go to Ralph Lauren for a
year and a half before you ultimately land what I
would consider the big one UM and two thousand and
eight team Puma starts there a little rebirth and Puma Basketball,
(22:00):
Puma hoops UM. They're trying to get back into the mix.
And I don't know exactly when you got hired. I
think it was two thousand nineteen around there, but they
chose you to be at the helm of those designs
and pretty much the whole vision. Um. So how did
that ultimately come about for you to kind of lead
the charge for for Puma hoops h Well, I was
(22:22):
in New York, uh Ralph Floyd. I hadn't played basketball
since I left Reebok, which was like a year before,
and I tore my achilles that day. Uh I went
to play basketball. So it was Terry and I had
a kid do my key was on the way. He
was due like a month at before I tour marculars
or a month after I told Marcules, and we had
(22:43):
to move out of our apartment. So it was like
a lot of stuff. It was terrible. It's terrible, terrible,
terrible times. What what what years? That's what year we're in.
That was two thousand, eighteen August two thousand and eighteen
two thousand, where my Achilles, my son is due October.
The end of October November time frame. We gotta move
our apartment. So I gotta pay somebody to pack up
(23:04):
the apartment because my wife's pregnant and I can't move.
I have surgery. I also had started a bunch of
a brand and like some other stuff in between those two. Um,
so I was used to like just going and doing
a bunch of stuff. So at this point when I
have surgery with you have to be on your back
for like a month basically, and it's awful for somebody
that doesn't like to just sit around. So to keep
myself saying, I started just drawing shoes. Um started drawing
(23:26):
basketball shoes again, because that's what got That's what I
always loved. When I was like twelve. I've been doing
since I was eleven twelve, and I was just drawing
and put them on Instagram every day, and all of
a sudden, a bunch of blogs start picking it up,
and then all the big brands started calling Jordan's Addie
and Puma, and uh actually called the series Achilles series.
So the Achiller series was was. I guess like that
(23:47):
comes from from the college basketball experience too, because without
health basketball probably wouldn't have torn my killing. But uh yeah,
so you know, I went to the interview process for
all those brands. I end up picking Puma because they
let me stay home, they let me work from home
remotely from New York. And I also like the idea
of like I like the underdog thing, so it's uh
(24:08):
that was part of that too. So that was nice
that they were It's like a startup brand within with
the heat and money. So it was like it was
a good situation, man. But that's how that's how that
job came about. So you said you had a couple
other offers and you ultimately chose Puma, where all the
offers pretty similar or was the Puma on like the
biggest and like made the most sense because you were
(24:29):
gonna You're gonna lead the charge. Uh. In terms of
position wise, Puma was the biggest position wise, the other
ones were there were still big jobs, but this was
the best opportunity to lead everything. So it was it
was the one. And actually the guy who hired me
was what worked with me at Reebok Um Ryan Cross.
He worked with me in Reebok and it was at
(24:49):
Puma for like a hot second and he told him
I can get it done and it's awesome. Man. So
let's rewind way back. You said you've been drawing since
you were twelve years old, drawing anything, Like what how
did you kind of like if you want to talk
about how you really got into drawing, how this became
a passion for you that now it's ultimately a career
for you. Um and where quest we're kind of originated from. Yeah, man,
(25:12):
we've I've been drawing since I've been drawing, Like I
guess the first thing stuff I drew was like video
game type stuff. I wanted to be a video game
designer when I was like seven, I should draw a
bunch of floor plans and like schematic stuff for like
architecture and interior design and cartoons like cartoons, and then
as I got into basketball, I started to draw shoes.
So I remember being eleven, the Questions had just come out,
(25:35):
and uh, We're going to AU tournament with my best friend,
and I was like, I got the black Questions, the
ones that nobody really wanted, the ones black and gold,
but everybody wants the white with the red toe or
the white with the blue toe. I couldn't get those.
They sold out, so I was pissed, and I was like, ah,
I could have done these better than I could make
reboked better. That was a literally literal quote from that
car ride when I was eleven. So when I got
(25:57):
the rebuked job boy hit me up, was like, do
you remember were in the car and you said you
can make rebuke man. I was like, yeah, many just crazy.
This is nuts. So it's it's been written for a while,
but you I've enjoyed housince I was like eleven, I
would any good until I got to college. But yeah,
it's it's funny because like when I talk to anybody
(26:18):
who has like I mean, obviously you have like a
very high level of artistic ability. When I talk to
anybody who is capable of like drawing or painting or graffiti,
whatever it might be. I'm like, wow, I am so challenged,
Like I literally, bro, I cannot put anything together on
a piece of paper. Like I've been trying to work
on some like small merchandise ideas and I don't know.
(26:41):
I had this idea with an igglu and I'm like,
how do you draw an iglu? Like and I'm doing
like it was just it was embarrassing and I was
like and it's like every time I pick up the pen.
But I really like, I love like when I see
people can draw and put stuff in their brain on
the piece of paper because I can see the image
of my head. Then you try to you're trying to
transfer to paper and it's like, dude, put put that
(27:02):
ship down. It is a it's a it's one of
those guy giving abilities because Jaco Hit when I worked
with JCole Lot at Puma, and he said that one time,
He's like, how you uh come up with this? And
like it's the same way you can come up with
like how you right rap, It's just a thing that
you I don't know why I'm good at it, but
it just happened that way. Like it's not me, it's
(27:24):
just who I gave you this, um, So that's what
that is. Man, It's not a you know, I don't know.
I can't even write like it's not something if to me,
it feels like it's not something you're gonna really sit
down and and practice. Like yeah, you can probably do
it more and learn techniques and stuff. But like if
you have that that vision and then someone's kind of
starts teaching you certain elements to drawing and stuff, then
(27:46):
you get, you know, really really good. But like if
I sat down and practice drawing, I still would not
be good at it. I can confidently say that I would.
I will always suck at drawing. That's what it is.
A lot of design there's like different types of designers.
So there's like designers are like creative and can draws
a gist. They can just draw so they can like
(28:07):
you know, recreate something they see, or there's like you know,
then there's blends of all these things. There's levels of
all this. So it is a you could learn to draw.
You may not be able to take your ideas and
make them into something, but you could practice something just
like you can go out and get shots up, learn
to do straight line is different. Alright, I swear directly
(28:29):
after this break, Jeremy is going to talk about his
work with LaMelo Ball and j Cole and that entire process.
So stay put. Walkie Talkies Podcast on the College Athletes Network,
featured on I Heart Radio, will be right back. Al right,
and we're back. This is Walkie Talkies Podcast on the
College Athletes Network, and I'm your host, Noah Bono. Again,
make sure you are subscribed to the podcast, and please,
(28:49):
if you'd be so kind, leave a review and much appreciated.
And now let's bring back in Jeremy and talk about
his work with Jay Cole and LaMelo Ball. So you
mentioned j Cole, I wanted to ask you about um,
you know, you worked with him on the RS Streamer
series and you work with LaMelo Ball. Uh, And I
know that Puma's kind of identity is like not to
(29:09):
sign you know, that big name athlete. They're really looking
at like the younger guys and how they can kind
of lead lead the pack, which I think is really cool.
I think it's a good um the version away from
you know, just signing Kawhi Leonard or bron who whoever.
You know, like they're they're kind of taking a different
approach to it with I think is cool. So you know,
what's it like working with LaMelo, working with Jake Cole,
(29:31):
like designing these shoes and getting you know, putting your
creative input in and also taking what they kind of
add to it to ultimately put the vision together. Yeah, man,
I think. Uh, Cole is you know, he's older, he's
like my age, so he's more, he's been you know,
he just understands that there's it's not just one way
to make something work or there's challenges in everybody's business.
(29:53):
Tybi Uh. He's he likes to learn things, so that
was nice to like, you know, he asked questions and
like want to learn what the processes and stuff like that,
which was refreshing because I've worked a lot of people,
you know, Cole was one of the better ones in
terms of just like understanding what the business was and
stuff like that. So that was that was nice. And
he's just a good dude, like super humble dude, super
(30:15):
humble dude. Um. And then Mellow is younger. You know,
he's a different generation to me, so he's he's probably
more colorful than I am. So it's good that you
get feedback from from him that you probably wouldn't. I
wouldn't take from my own mind to see what he likes.
So it's like taking. Uh, he's all he's all about color,
so like our our conversations are more color based than
(30:35):
anything else would mellow. You know, we've worked with him
less because we worked with him through COVID too, so
that was like being the jacked up apart. But we've
worked with him. You know, we'll get on Texas, He'll
send over random colors they likes and stuff like that.
You know, he's good dude. He's like little brother vibes.
He's like, yeah, I'm I'm a big brother in my family,
so like, yeah, we worked well together just because it's like,
(30:56):
you know, big little brother hilarious. Oh bad man. I
remember watching the ball in the family and he was like,
I don't know fifteen, I'm like, what are we gonna do?
And this guy's like he's in the NBA, Like he's funny. Yeah, um,
so do you work? You know, I'm trying to look
it up and stuff. It's not as easy as I
(31:17):
thought it would be trying to figure out who with
Puma has signature shoe deals. So I know there's the
Dreamer series, there's the Mellow Ball shoes. Is there anybody
else who has shoes out or coming out that you're
you're also working on? No, I mean the Clyde Clyde
was was the original signatures shoe obviously. Um, there's stuff
(31:38):
I can't talk about yet. So there's stuff that's coming
that you'll see. But cool. Cool, Yeah, no, no worries. Um,
So I do want to ask about I mentioned you know,
Puma signed the deal with Mikey Williams. I don't know
if this goes into what you can't talk about totally
fine if so, But is it is there a chance
that we see Mike Williams as the first college athlete
(32:01):
with a signature shoe because it's it would make sense
with the n I L that you know, that's where
this maybe goes when he gets into college, if he
even takes the college out, he might do the G
League thing or or what. But I mean, do you
think that that's something we could see? Maybe? You know,
I couldn't tell you even I can tell you actually,
but yeah, tell I don't I couldn't tell you what
(32:23):
to do? Cool? Yeah, So still still new, so we'll
see what happens, right. Um. So another interesting thing is like,
you know you're you love to draw, You've been drawing
since you were twelve, you played basketball. Now you're designing
shoes for basketball players to wear and perform in. Was
this sort of the long term goal when you were
younger to be where you are at or just something
(32:44):
along these lines, like what was what you imagined you know, ten, fifteen,
twenty years ago? Is that what you've gotten now? Or
was it? Is this come something completely different than what
you had thought? No? This is it? Is it? It's
probably more than it really. You know, when you're that young,
all you wanted somebody to wear your shoe in real life,
Like that's all you want to have a real shoe.
It's a physical thing that you can touch. And now
(33:06):
it's uh, you know that's every shoe designers original dream.
And then you get to it, you get to you know,
I'm super blessed. I got it good. I can't. I
have no complaints about where I met um and I
never thought I could go this far. Really, I didn't
know it was the thing, you know, I mean you
just when you're that younger, like, yes, somebody draws these shoes.
(33:27):
I want to be Tinker Hatfield, who's the designer of
all the Jordan's. Were most of the Jordan's and that's
all we knew at that point. So just getting to
design the shoe that came out with the whole that
was the whole dream at that at that stage. Now
now the dreams to take this brand that wasn't known
for basketball and make it better than the rest of
the brands that do basketball all day. Yeah, I think
(33:48):
that's I think that's the coolest part where it's like
when I used to think of Puma for the longest time,
So I graduated high school in twenty seventeen. Puma Puma
Hoops kind of started establishing itself around two thousand and eighteen,
like up until that point, maybe up until like two
thousand I think it was maybe the pandemic. I don't
remember when I first heard like there was gonna be
a Puma shoe line. But for the longest time, like
Puma to me was always like no, I'm cool, Like
(34:09):
I won't even wear Puma socks, Like I'm not. I'm
not funking with that um. But to be honest, before
I even knew who you were in the Akron tie
to you know, my Ducane tie whatever. Before I even
knew any of that, I didn't know who the shoe
designer was for Puma. And I'm seeing like some of
these cool shoes coming out, I'm going, Okay, well, once
I get out of college and I'm not tied to
any one brand, like, I'm gonna buy some Pumas because
(34:31):
these actually look cool, they look comfortable, comfortable like So
it's crazy the kind of one e D I did.
And that's crazy that now I'm talking to the guy
that it's in charge of that one eighties. So, UM,
I know you own UM, your own your own business.
It's called Freeman Plat. I have that right. It's your
own company. You're the owner of the creative director. UM.
So just explain for the listeners what Freeman Plat is,
(34:53):
where the idea came from, what the business is all
about UM, and where they can find it. Yeah, originally
started I think it was two thousand and fourteen, probably
something like that, bas I was at Rebox and it
was like, you know, you're still in corporate environment, so
it was a you're still gonna box somewhat. So this
is like a creative outlet outside of the box of
(35:13):
creative creativity. So it was like, and I had established
myself as a designer, that they you know, you should
just establish yourself as a designer where I could go
to the VP and be like, I'm about to start
a footwear bar and this is what it is I
have to do before I have a kid, blah blah blah,
because I want to start this is while I went
to college, was to build a shoe brand. And the
way I did did it originally was everything I did
(35:35):
was hybrids of like dress shoes or dress apparel and
athletic uh stuff. So that was the way I've worked
around like the non compete type vibe um that most
people are scared to ask the question about. So there's
not there was. There's not many people within the footwear industry.
They have a footwear company there for sure, But at
(35:56):
the same time, it was just me. Um. It was
sounding like four hundred, five hundred dollars shoes, like it's
from made Italy, made in Portugal, So I like we
were competing with, you know, the exporting goods of foot locker.
So it was it was all good. They let me
do it. UM did that all the way up through
to the Achilles series. Really, when I tore my Achille,
(36:16):
everything sort of slowed back down. And then we just
rereleased a new collection with infram Platque called Earl Gray,
which is basically the casual side of Fremm Platts. So
it's better pride, lower price points, still high quality stuff
boy like hoodie based, hat based, all this like essentials
that I like to wear because now back then it
was like I want to get rich off Freo and
plat and now it's like, I want to just do
(36:38):
stuff that's fun, but I like to wear. I want
to get to my my friends like to wear about
um And yeah, man, we just released our hoodies the
other day. Did pretty good the first day, the first
couple of days. But yeah, everything find everything on free
and plat dot com see UM. So ultimately, I like
to tie the show together with how your walk On
journey and college basketball journey in general and all the
(37:00):
things you endured during that process and just some of
the things you had to go through an experience during
those four years, like what they taught you and ultimately
what you look back on during those times that you
have taken with you into your current career. I know
you mentioned work ethic was a big thing from you know,
your transition period, but what are some of the other
things that just like you know, living everyday life that
you may be you know, equate back to your days
(37:22):
as a walk on and as a college athlete. Um.
Every day there's a I don't know that this fight
didn't come from that actual part of this maybe within me,
but the whole the drive part of it, like the
drive to become something somebody I tell you can't be.
That's part of the walker on journey though, because told
that they can't do anything but be a walking um,
(37:44):
that you're small and you know all these things. So yeah,
that I think the drive of the every day of
like being told that you can't do something, you can't
become something is definitely a clear translation into running or
like you know, heading up puma basketball and like want
to knock and I He's head around like that's all
that's my whole thing. I started like bashing other dudes
(38:04):
like as much as possiblus, that's all I do. UM,
So that was That's a big thing that happened. I
think the handling adversity and like having to like recover
quickly from things. That definitely is a translation. Whether it's
you know, you have a good day of practice, you
still don't play the next game, or you have a
good week of practice you're in the starting five group
(38:27):
and you still don't play. Like all those things like
being able to handle that and go back into practice
the next week and uh still work hard. That is
you know it just it just sickens up your skin
really more or anything uh makes you handle. You know,
I can handle a lot of the little stupid stuff
that people forgot about within corporate America. That doesn't really
(38:47):
matter because you just need everybody's need to calm down,
just like it's gonna be okay, not that serious, just
making shoes. Um yeah, those are those are the two
big ones. I mean, I don't think of some other stuff.
It's been a long time. May should have called me
like probably six years. God remember the last I wasn't
even Yeah, um no, man, it's cool that that's all good.
(39:13):
That's all stuff that you know. I enjoy hearing. I'm
sure people listening enjoy hearing because, like you said, like
some of those little moments like I feel the same way,
like certain stuff happens and I'm like, that's just not
a big deal. That's not something I'm gonna pour my
energy into. Like, Okay, it happened, but I've seen this happen.
I've seen that happen. I've seen so and so, dude whatever,
and it's like, you know, it kind of just shaped
(39:35):
my perspective in a a little bit more of like
a I don't know, I guess you'd call it mature
manner of just like what you're gonna let what you're
gonna let bother you, what you're gonna let you know,
you're just gonna let bounce off your shoulder. It's not
that big of a deal kind of thing, because I
think a lot of people just dwell too much and
you know, focus on the uncontrollables. And it's like, man,
like you just put your time and your energy into
(39:57):
ship that like you can control, and just take the
ship that you can't control for what it is, you
probably would find a little bit more. No, I don't know,
I'm not trying to Yeah, no, no, you're right, man.
I think handling success to like as a walking you
get success in a different in a different light. Than
the guys that get success no matter who they are,
how they play, you know what I mean. This country guys,
(40:19):
it's just different. I think we'll in in after in
post basketball life, it'll work out well for walk On
in terms of like how to handle success and how
to protect it and how to you know, enjoy it
and not get too high and I get too low
type like you mean, it's like you just learn a lot.
You don't even know you're learning it while you're doing it,
but it's teaching using stuff that uh it may and
(40:41):
it may sound too at first, but in life, in
the grand scheme of things, I think it is, you know,
help like I'm not I'm glad it's over, but I'm
glad I did it. You know. That's That's that's why
everybody telling asked me how how I feel about masks.
I'm like, I'm glad I did it, but I'm glad
it's over, right, Like it's you know, now that it's over,
it's it's way easier for you to look back on
it and be like, Okay, you know, for the most part,
(41:02):
that probably sucks, but I'm glad that I at least
you know, it happened. Like it's over. It's what ten
years over with for you, Like at least you you
got the experience, you took your lessons from it, like,
and that's kind of where I'm at. I feel like
i'm you know, as I'm on the tail end of
this um these five years. It's like I'm so close
to the situation. And I've been to three schools, so
you know, I've taken something with me from each school.
(41:23):
But I know that, like there's so much more that's
gonna come out of this or come from this from
my own perspective, you know, to three ten years down
the line that I can't really see quite yet because
you know, I'm still kind of in the thick of it,
Like it's too it's too fresh. So you know, I
always think that's something interesting too, because when we're too
close the situations, like what are you gonna do? I mean,
(41:43):
like you can evaluate and observe as much as you want,
but ultimately, when you take that step away, like more
ship kind of hits you in the face and you're like,
all right, okay, you you know, you find some peace
with things, you find some clarity, you have a little
bit of regret, but you know, you know how to
deal with the regret, you know how to deal with
all these stuff. So, um all right, man, well that's
(42:03):
a rap. I pre shaate you coming on the show.
You know, really good to hear your journey, your story
and you know some of the stuff you've got going
on with Puma, you know, super interesting to me, especially
because I'm you know, not a Puma guy. But that's
not to say that I won't be a Puma guy.
You know, once I get out off these Nike ties,
I'm free to wear whatever I want. Um. So yeah, man,
I appreciate you coming on sharing your story. Uh. You know,
(42:24):
I hope people learn something from this, takes on from
it because you're out of you're you're in a really
big spot. That's especially for someone like me being in
the in the basketball world like I am. Like you know,
you're designing the shoes that you know, LaMelo is wearing,
Jay Cole is wearing. Like it's just super cool for me. Um.
So yeah, man, thank you, Bro, I appreciate it. Keep
it up, Keep it up. This is a good This
is a good message you give out these kids, and
(42:45):
I think about doing this through Yeah, welcome mane if
you could give him a blueprint, you know, before they
get in and take the role. You know, maybe they
can make it more like a better decision, because I
know I had had no information, you know, going into it.
I was just kind of like, Oh, I'm gonna be
on a Division one team. Okay. Cool. You get there
and you get punched right in the mouth right away
(43:07):
every day, every day, every day. But it's okay, that's
a rap. For episode five, Jeremy Sale, head of design
for Puma Hoops. What a great talk about hoops, about life,
about not taking it too serious, and about me being
the world's shittiest drawer artist whatever you wanna call it.
Really cool stuff. Really though, I wish I could draw
(43:27):
anyone looking to invest and maybe getting me the iPad
with the pen so I can start practicing my skills
on there. That'd be great. Thank you. I know you're
probably thinking, why can't you just you know, get a
pad in the paper and do it on there? Yeah? Well,
I want the five device with the two pen. This
is not an Apple endorsement or advertisement, but I just
I want it. I want to draw on there. It
just seems so much cooler and funner anyway, have you
(43:50):
enjoyed this episode. Please leave the show a review on
Apple podcast or wherever you listen, start it rated, write
something however you feel would really mean a lot to me.
Uh to get feedback. We we love that. And and
please make sure you are subscribed to Walkie Talkies podcast.
It's on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast or
wherever you listen to your podcast so you don't miss
any It's like clockwork. Episode six will be out next Wednesday,
(44:12):
So thank you all for listening and I will see
you then you. Walkie Talkies is a production of I
(44:39):
Heart Radio and the College Athletes Network. For more podcasts
from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Walkie Talkies is a production of I Heart Radio and
the College Athletes Network. Hello, Yeah, what's up, Walkie Talkies?
(00:28):
Welcome back to episode five of Walkie Talkies podcast on
the College Athletes Network. Featured on I Heart Radio. Coolest
walk on in the country. I'm your host, noa bono.
So my first two favors of the show before we
get into the interview is I'm sure you can already
guess is to please make sure you are subscribed and
downloaded to Walkie Talkies podcast. And secondly is to please
leave the show a review if you'd be so kind,
(00:50):
just a couple of stars, maybe even write something if
you feel like it. It's a really big help for
the show. So I'd really appreciate that. And now that
I'm done begging you, let's get into today's episode. Today's
episodes A banger, straight up banger. That's that's what it is.
Today's episod it is with Jeremy Sale, who is currently
the head of design for Puma Basketball and was a
former walk on with the University of Akron back in
(01:11):
two thousand six up to two thousand nine under my
former coach at Duquesne, Keith Dan Brott, who is an
acron legend. So Jeremy started his career at a D
three school case Western four year played basketball there before
transferring to Akron to become a walk on. And that's
kind of where the episode will start when I introduced
the interview. But just some quick side notes for what
(01:31):
else you can expect to hear. Um. You know, the
episode starts off with his walk on journey and the
hardships and details of it and how tough it was. Uh.
And you know, he talks about being given a scholarship
but how it didn't really feel like he was given one.
Why that was. He then touches on his experiences with
Lebron James and his memories of being around him and
just how cool that was. Uh. He talks about how
(01:53):
the Puma opportunity came about for him, why he chose
them over some other big name brands, what it was
like working with j Cole LaMelo Ball and designing shoes
for the two of them, uh, and his motivation to
now knock Nike's head off now that he's in the
position he's in, which I thought was great. You know,
There's so much more mixed in there too, about his
business he started along the way, you know him having
(02:14):
three degrees and fashion design, graphic design, and business which
is incredible. Uh. And just what he learned and took
with him into his career from being a walk on
really cool stuff. So you know what time it is, people,
It's time for me to shut the hell up, get
the hell out of the way and give you my
full conversation with former walk on from the University of
Akron basketball team and now head of design with Puma Basketball,
(02:35):
Jeremy Silly. So, you started off at a Division three school.
You went to case Western Reserve, which Division three school
out in Ohio. UM, you end up, after averaging your
freshman year nine points four assists per game, you end
up going to transfer to the University of Akron under
coach Keith dan Brott. And this was two thousand five
(02:56):
through two thousand eight. And what went into that decision?
You you were playing at a D three school, you
were getting minutes, you were like pretty much a big
focal point of the team at a young age. UM,
and then you decided to take the D one route
walk on route. What kind of went into that decision
and how that opportunity UM come about for you, uh,
(03:17):
In terms of the decision, um, I mean when I
was in high school, I got recruited by a lot
of IVY League school so I was like, my parents
are also going through a divorce, so I was like,
I wanted to stay close to home at that year.
So the the original goal was to go to case
Western and then transferred to Seaton Hall, which I had
a coach that I played with, had a camp with
in high school that was gonna let me play there.
(03:39):
And you know it was case Western was great. I
got a lot of good friends from there. Um had
a good time. I didn't I wouldn't really never a
score in high school. So it's like a case actually
got to expand that part of our game a little bit.
And again, I mean it didn't really translate the next level.
But that was the fun. That was probably the most
fun offensive year of my of my career, just because
(03:59):
it was it was just the way it was easy,
It was easier, and I just I just had a
good time. I was just having a good time that
fort Um. But I mean I was super I'm smart.
I was smart at coming out of high school. So
like Yale and Harvard and all those and penn An Army,
and like, you know, those are the schools I wouldn't
to visit, and they wouldn't get full scholarships, so it's
like half scholarship. Plus they didn't give scholarships for the
(04:21):
things I wanted to do, which was design shoes, so
it's like wasting money at the same time. So I
ended up a case Western because they had a pre
architecture degree and it was cool. Um in terms of
like the transfer. I knew I was leaving after that
first year. And one I think my no, my uncle
worked as a in a janitorial services at Akron and
(04:43):
he told he and I guess coach coach uh the
new I don't know if they knew each other or
I don't know how he got me into the open gym,
but there's an open gym and he said you come
He said, you come down and go to open gym.
And I came in and played good at the open gym.
Obviously I played hard defense, probably harder than everybody else,
just because you know, you want to put your best
(05:04):
foot for forward. Uh. And they had just lost was
his name, oh man, Mario. He's no a little defender,
too small to me, but he was like a little
scrappy defender dude. It was on the team, and uh
I felt like it was like a replacement almost, like
like they saw that I could be that type of
dude for a team and play good. Rome apparently roll
(05:25):
must I think Rome might have vouch for me after
the open gym Romeo Travis. Yeah, yeah, Rome vouch for
me after the open gym, and they hit me up
when I was at disney World with my family, like
a couple of weeks later, it was like, you come
play And I was like, what so that was? I
was literally at disney World that the last one was
at disney World. That was great. So I mean you
(05:47):
you knew you were going to come in there and
be a walk on? Did you not care that it
was a walk on title? Did you kind of know
what that even meant? Or like it was just like
I'm just going here to hoop. I don't really give
a shit about this title, like it is what it is. Like,
I like, how did that kind of work out for you? Yeah?
I didn't really. I mean it was never you know
for me, it was like I either go I could
have went and played somewhere on half scholarship in one
(06:08):
of those other schools, right, but I couldn't do I
want to do after basketball, So it was like this
was a nice happy medium, and you know, when you're young,
I just didn't understand. Uh, you know, you just don't
know when you're young, You're you like you laugh at
like when buck Nel sends you letters and wants you
to come visit and all that stuff. But that I
went to the tournament that year, I got the accurate
(06:30):
so it was like, you know, I could have I
could have been a buck them. So I was like,
you know, all these things, you just didn't understand. You know,
if if you had, you know, it's it's you just
didn't know what you get yourself. And you're so young
and stupid at that point, like you could have went anywhere.
But you know, as in terms of Walker, I just
want to play divisual on basketball. So it's like I
could care less who I was playing for. How I'm
(06:51):
gonna get to that point I did. I probably didn't
understand what it was gonna be like for sure, Uh,
but you know I was ready for whatever at that point.
How long do you think like you were there for
until you kind I got an understanding of what it
was actually going to be like for the rest of
your you know, three years there, Like did it click
at any point? I mean the only I mean, the
(07:14):
first year was a red shirt year, so that was
probably the best thing that happened was I got to
red shirt with the rest of the incoming freshman the
next year and I lived with them in the freshman
dorm and all that, so it was like it was
like starting over. So that was nice. So we got
to all like come together and like you know, be
red shirts together and learned together and catch up with
the speed of the game together, and you know, you
you start to understand. That's when you understand when you
(07:34):
finally get to it. The first week in condition was
obviously awful, you know, the mild test and all that
stuff that we gotta do. I went home every weekend.
I drove for four hours every weekend just because I
was like, it was so terrible. What I've been using
in high school was terrible. But that first year case
Western everything was easy. So it was like I got
to get back into, you know, the terribleness of training again, right,
(07:59):
And you're referring, dude, the training during a red shirt year.
That being terrible, that's what you're well, it was just conditioning.
Conditioning was what really got me. Practice was fine, but
conditioning was like the whole I was back to the
you know, terrible. It was just it has been a
long time, you've you've been through it, so you know, man,
(08:19):
we were running the mile this past summer and I
was like, and I you know, I'm a year five
last rodeo. I'm like, I cannot wait to never be
put back on this track and told to run this
damn mile. Um. So after sitting out your first year,
you actually played in nineteen games. Uh, and what was
considered your junior year but red shirt sophomore year two
(08:41):
thousand and six, two thousand seven seasons. So like, it's
not very common for a walk on to get in
the game and be considered a backup. He considered some
sort of role player unless you're you know, teams getting
blown out or you guys are blown them out. So
what do you think was helping you get on the
court that often and be able to earn Coach D's
trust and used, you know, consistently as a backup for
(09:01):
I think you were backing up Drew Joyce at the time,
if I'm not mistaking right, Yeah, yeah, man, it was
everything was going good at that point. Uh. You know,
I played hard. I worked hard. I always I could
play at that level. And it was you know, it
wasn't that I didn't have all the look I didn't
get all the looks that everybody at but I got
a lot of looks. So it's like it was nothing crazy.
And you know, I work hard to what I was
supposed to do, try to win every every up and back.
(09:23):
I could play as hard defense as I could not
mess up, you know, take care of the ball um
and Drew. And Drew respected me because you know I'm
gonna give. I'm gonna give whoever hell whoever is in
front of me, so you can ask You asked McNeice
about that when he first got there. I know you
couldn't stand that ship. But yeah, it was. It was
good and it was just playing hard, just you know,
you got in position. Drew trust me, Drew vouch for
(09:45):
me senior night after the season was over and said
we got a good point guard and Silee, I was like, oh,
this might happen. So but you know, that's the part
of the Walk on Life. I thought it was gonna
be right. So you definitely earned some sort of trust
and and like, uh a relationship with coach d and
the rest of the staff for them to be vouching
for you. And and you're you know, you're starting point
(10:05):
guard at the time to be vouching for you to
get in the lineup. So what do you think, like
like what kind of went south for you? And in
terms of like not getting maybe what you ultimately set
out to get while you were there, Like do you
do you have anything of mine? Like what what do
you think maybe went wrong? What what didn't go what
you the way you thought it would go. I mean,
for me, it's still like a I still I still
think there's politics within basketball, especially at that level. There's
(10:28):
still like, uh, you know, scholarship players that are coming
in and that you know, the coaches have brought in
that they want to go on the court too. You know,
I got a scholarship after that year. But with the
scholarship came the stipulation of you have to do whatever
we say do and you know, when you get it,
you're like, I'll do whatever you want me to do.
But what that meant was for me to be it forever,
(10:48):
walk a real walk on and not be the guy
after that was coming up. Wow, they gave you a scholarship,
but going into your senior year, yeah, my last year,
Um yeah, after my after the year I played, after
my reshirt year, I played that next year. I got
a scholarship for the last year, but you were still
pretty much a walk on, even though they're now paying
for that. Was like that was looking back at it,
(11:10):
it's like, uh, that was the point. I remember that.
I remember he said, he's act, I'm gonna give you
a scholars but you gotta do exactly what we say.
And with that game, even if you're doing better than
somebody else, you gotta sit there and take it like
you gotta take it like a champion and just be
be there for the team and do what you gotta do.
And that was like for me, was the turning point
because I, like I said, everything was going good the
(11:32):
year the Drew left and I felt like this was
my that was gonna be my time. I've got in
the weight room off some of that year I was
running miles, but it was it was a good year.
And then I start actually started the first game of
the season. Started the first game, the first real game,
not the exhibition game. Like the first he had a
tournament in Alaska, and I started that game. Uh, I
(11:53):
have any turn honors play solid. I think I messed
up at the I messed up at the end, and
I had there was a call it. I didn't run
to play correctly, but it was like it wasn't un
crazy enough to like never ever play a game type
of That's what happened afterwards. So did you not end
up playing the rest of the year. I mean, I played,
but it was like less than I played when when
Drew was there. Really I felt like it was just
(12:14):
like it. It may not have been I may be wrong,
it may have been the same or more. I don't know,
but it felt like because you're you're you know, you're
expecting one thing and then you just got completely different.
So then it became like a mental battle. At that
point of I probably went up and had up ups
and downs of you know, fucking fuck it seasons where
I was like, I'm just gonna do what I don't
(12:35):
I'm just gonna do whatever. At this point, Uh, work,
I still worked hard and played hard and did all
that stuff. But it was like, you know, maybe I
shot more than I would normally shooting practice, and like
I remember practice we got hot, the whole team was hot.
We'd be hot and we're just clowning the whole time
and just kill another team every once in a while,
and uh, you just have like it's just a different
(12:56):
mental thing. You just gotta kind of like get through
it at that point, right, That's what I was gonna
ask next. It's like, how did I mean even though
you weren't technically a walk on, but how did that
whole walk on into scholarship was still kind of a
walk on? How that you know in the moment, were
you hating it? Were you're loving it? A little bit
of both? Or towards that last year you were you know,
you said a couple of moments you had the fun
at mentality, but like we're ultimately were you landing and
(13:19):
that last year like I can't wait for the ship
to be over like and move on. Like last year
was definitely the worst year. It was definitely worse year.
It was like, you know, and I did other stuff,
so like a lot of people, most of our team,
all we did was played basketball, Like but I did
other stuff, right, So I had classes that I had
to take to graduate on time. So I end up
saying another year because I had to do practice in
the morning and couldn't take your classes. I need to tape, right,
(13:42):
So I like sacrifice that stuff obviously, So I had
another year of eligibility obviously, but I didn't do it
because of that that fact then, because I was mentally
like over being overlooked. So it was like that was
definitely the worst year. But I had met my now
wife at that point. It's admitted a little bit better,
but you know, it was it was tough, man, it
was tough. Every wasn't really nothing, I hear you. What
(14:05):
can you Yeah, it's a full, full time, unpaidful you
know pretty much. Um, but can you try to paint,
you know for people listening, just a little bit of
a picture of like you know when you say, man,
it was just hard, like I want to just you know,
I just needed something else, like I was being overlooked,
Like was it the being overlooked part that was really
just like I'm tired, You're tired of this. You want
(14:27):
to you know, move into a field or focus on
the things you were now doing um, but at the
time going to be doing you want to focus on
that more like just kind of paint that picture of
what you mean. I mean, it was like, uh, you knew,
you know, I'm a winner, So like the coach d knows.
You can ask coach coach knows I'm winnering he said
that no s to LEAs a winner. But it was
(14:47):
like knowing that but also knowing that you weren't gonna
get an opportunity to do what you know you could do.
So it was like getting through the season every day
and knowing that you're knocking. You still may not get it,
and you may get a look every once in a while,
get pulled over to the to the white team every
every couple of practices. And then there's also the pressure
(15:09):
of when you do get the opportunity, if you mess
up just a little bit, you're right back to where
you were. There's no like, there's no like, uh, you know,
leeway between when you're when you're in that position. But
it wasn't even that, you know, if I could have played,
I was even until the last moment I think I
came to I didn't do Senior Night because I knew
I had another year left, and I came to like
(15:30):
some of the study uh what they called it was
called group. Yeah, I just come to that. I came
to like the first couple after the season was over,
just on some like I don't know what I'm doing still. Uh,
And then it just got to a point where I
just finally made a decision. And then I didn't play
basketball for like two years, like literally didn't touch nothing.
(15:51):
Yeah that's crazy. Also, like you were around Lebron a lot, right,
Like he was around the program like a decent especially
those early years. And Acorn he was still in Cleveland
like you were. I mean, I don't know, he was
coming and playing some open gym and stuff like that.
But do you ever play with her against you know him?
Oh yeah, we want to. Uh. He would go to
his open gyms with I would go with Drew in
Rome and we would take I usually like Drew Rome's act.
(16:14):
Jimmy Conyers used to go with us too. Um, but
I played Bron but then we worked as camp too,
so we played with him after camp, and uh, I
got a couple of good Bron stories. Brown was the
first time, not the first time, I played with Brown.
A couple of times before this, and then I was
coming in from class and they were he had brought
like Chris Paul and d d. Wade and they're in
(16:37):
open gym and I wasn't there in time to play
and I walked in with all my my stuff on.
He was like, is that coach smart? He thought I
was coach smart, shock and smart, and whoever was like, oh,
he played for he played for us. And then the
other one was we're at we worked as camp or
(16:59):
after camp after le bron camp, we would have all
the coaches would played together and Drew Drew Lavender was there.
You know Drew Lavender, a little short dude from Columbus. Uh,
he's him and Brian played in the like state championship
against each other like when I was in high school,
when I was like a freshman or something like that.
(17:20):
But anyway, he went to Oklahoma. He's super short, like
five five five six, um, but I was getting I
came in after that, I got I hit like three
straight threes on him, and Brown was like hyping in that,
hyping the situation up the whole time. That was my
That was my two Bronze stories and my kids, you know,
(17:42):
it's crazy too, because you guys like being at Akron,
especially like that early UM and coach d. S. Acrone days,
Like you guys had the direct hie to Bron because
it was pretty much fresh off when he got out
of high school. Coach he was coaching him, he was
new in the NBA, Like and now we're out here
in Pittsburgh and like we get some cool gear, some
cool bronze shoes or whatever. But I always just think,
(18:03):
I'm like, Lebron ain't ever coming to Pittsburgh, Like he's
got no ties out, he ain't pulling up here to
come to an open gym. So it's like it's just
cool because you guys got the full you know, Acron
basketball Lebron James experience, and we're like, it's great here,
but it's it's a little bit of the aftermath. You know,
it was dope because it was it was us kid
and what was the other there's a little in a
(18:26):
high school or D three school they used to bring
because because Brandon Wings I think went there and he
used to come to the open gyms. But there's four
schools that would come to the open gyms that he
would put on and it would just be at random
gyms sometimes be accurate. Sometimes we uh kid, it'd be
like hitting well, you know what high school was some
(18:46):
place and can just random gyms. But it was funny, man.
It was definitely cool to like look back at it
and be like that that you did that. It's just
you know, yeah, we were like to go tied into
some of That's super cool. Damn, that's so awesome you
got those experiences with lebron Um. I'm definitely jealous. But
all right, everybody stayed put. When we come back, we
get into Jeremy's rise as a designer and becoming the
(19:08):
leader of Puma Basketball and what it was like working
with j Cole and LaMelo Ball and the process designing
their shoes. Uh. This is Walkie Talkies Podcast and I'm
no a Bono, your host. You can find the pod
on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok at w t Z podcast
and you can find me on Twitter and Instagram at
snow dot three. All right, we'll be right back. Guess who.
(19:29):
Walkie Talkies podcast on the College Athletes Network is back
and I'm your host now, Albono. Please make sure you
are subscribed and downloaded. If you're enjoying what you're hearing,
and if you'd be so kind to leave the show
of rating as well, those are also very big helps.
And let's bring back in my guest Jeremy Silly. So
you graduate in two thousand and eight. You have a
degree in fashion, fashion design and graphic design. Is anything
(19:50):
else or is just end business for all three? Okay?
It was like I'm my own creek, had to make
my own curriculum. So wow, that's that's incredible. Um So
you end up working a couple of internships and you're
a freelance shoe designer and time period wise for listening,
it just is like before two you know, this is
like the start of your grind. Um So take us
(20:11):
through like stepping away from the game of basketball, hanging
up the shoes, and how this next journey kind of
started for you. Uh, and the transition you had to
make from the college basketball world I was walk on
and you know, even just being a college athlete in
general into this current career in right now. I think
the the time off was like I don't know if
(20:32):
it was needed, but it was like I just like
almost was disgusted by by the game at that point.
I was just like piste off at the game, So
I just didn't play for I didn't touch the ball
for like a year at least. But when I got
to Reebok, there's a court there, so I started playing again.
But just in terms of like the transition college to
that environment, the big thing probably they came from that
was how hard we worked in college and in the
(20:55):
in the Division one athletics in general, just like how
much how hard it is in transition will in terms
of how hard I worked in the design and industry.
So while everybody else would do I would do a
shoe a day. Um. I would design a shoe a
day and put up on my board at my my
low cubicle when I was an apprentice um at Reebok,
(21:15):
and nobody else did that. And that's how I got
my job halfway through the apprenticeship and had a bunch
of new shoes that came earlier than anybody else had
ever had shoes for the apprenticeship program. So, you know,
it was more like a work ethic thing more than anything.
It was like, you know, you probably you learned how
to survive the adversity of not getting what you wanted,
and if you don't get what you want to, just
(21:37):
keep grinding at it type vibe. That probably translated really
well over to the apprenticeship at reebok. You know, that's
probably the biggest thing. So you work for Reebok um
and you're a senior footwear designer, you're a manager for
seven years, and you go to Ralph Lauren for a
year and a half before you ultimately land what I
would consider the big one UM and two thousand and
eight team Puma starts there a little rebirth and Puma Basketball,
(22:00):
Puma hoops UM. They're trying to get back into the mix.
And I don't know exactly when you got hired. I
think it was two thousand nineteen around there, but they
chose you to be at the helm of those designs
and pretty much the whole vision. Um. So how did
that ultimately come about for you to kind of lead
the charge for for Puma hoops h Well, I was
(22:22):
in New York, uh Ralph Floyd. I hadn't played basketball
since I left Reebok, which was like a year before,
and I tore my achilles that day. Uh I went
to play basketball. So it was Terry and I had
a kid do my key was on the way. He
was due like a month at before I tour marculars
or a month after I told Marcules, and we had
(22:43):
to move out of our apartment. So it was like
a lot of stuff. It was terrible. It's terrible, terrible,
terrible times. What what what years? That's what year we're in.
That was two thousand, eighteen August two thousand and eighteen
two thousand, where my Achilles, my son is due October.
The end of October November time frame. We gotta move
our apartment. So I gotta pay somebody to pack up
(23:04):
the apartment because my wife's pregnant and I can't move.
I have surgery. I also had started a bunch of
a brand and like some other stuff in between those two. Um,
so I was used to like just going and doing
a bunch of stuff. So at this point when I
have surgery with you have to be on your back
for like a month basically, and it's awful for somebody
that doesn't like to just sit around. So to keep
myself saying, I started just drawing shoes. Um started drawing
(23:26):
basketball shoes again, because that's what got That's what I
always loved. When I was like twelve. I've been doing
since I was eleven twelve, and I was just drawing
and put them on Instagram every day, and all of
a sudden, a bunch of blogs start picking it up,
and then all the big brands started calling Jordan's Addie
and Puma, and uh actually called the series Achilles series.
So the Achiller series was was. I guess like that
(23:47):
comes from from the college basketball experience too, because without
health basketball probably wouldn't have torn my killing. But uh yeah,
so you know, I went to the interview process for
all those brands. I end up picking Puma because they
let me stay home, they let me work from home
remotely from New York. And I also like the idea
of like I like the underdog thing, so it's uh
(24:08):
that was part of that too. So that was nice
that they were It's like a startup brand within with
the heat and money. So it was like it was
a good situation, man. But that's how that's how that
job came about. So you said you had a couple
other offers and you ultimately chose Puma, where all the
offers pretty similar or was the Puma on like the
biggest and like made the most sense because you were
(24:29):
gonna You're gonna lead the charge. Uh. In terms of
position wise, Puma was the biggest position wise, the other
ones were there were still big jobs, but this was
the best opportunity to lead everything. So it was it
was the one. And actually the guy who hired me
was what worked with me at Reebok Um Ryan Cross.
He worked with me in Reebok and it was at
(24:49):
Puma for like a hot second and he told him
I can get it done and it's awesome. Man. So
let's rewind way back. You said you've been drawing since
you were twelve years old, drawing anything, Like what how
did you kind of like if you want to talk
about how you really got into drawing, how this became
a passion for you that now it's ultimately a career
for you. Um and where quest we're kind of originated from. Yeah, man,
(25:12):
we've I've been drawing since I've been drawing, Like I
guess the first thing stuff I drew was like video
game type stuff. I wanted to be a video game
designer when I was like seven, I should draw a
bunch of floor plans and like schematic stuff for like
architecture and interior design and cartoons like cartoons, and then
as I got into basketball, I started to draw shoes.
So I remember being eleven, the Questions had just come out,
(25:35):
and uh, We're going to AU tournament with my best friend,
and I was like, I got the black Questions, the
ones that nobody really wanted, the ones black and gold,
but everybody wants the white with the red toe or
the white with the blue toe. I couldn't get those.
They sold out, so I was pissed, and I was like, ah,
I could have done these better than I could make
reboked better. That was a literally literal quote from that
car ride when I was eleven. So when I got
(25:57):
the rebuked job boy hit me up, was like, do
you remember were in the car and you said you
can make rebuke man. I was like, yeah, many just crazy.
This is nuts. So it's it's been written for a while,
but you I've enjoyed housince I was like eleven, I
would any good until I got to college. But yeah,
it's it's funny because like when I talk to anybody
(26:18):
who has like I mean, obviously you have like a
very high level of artistic ability. When I talk to
anybody who is capable of like drawing or painting or graffiti,
whatever it might be. I'm like, wow, I am so challenged,
Like I literally, bro, I cannot put anything together on
a piece of paper. Like I've been trying to work
on some like small merchandise ideas and I don't know.
(26:41):
I had this idea with an igglu and I'm like,
how do you draw an iglu? Like and I'm doing
like it was just it was embarrassing and I was
like and it's like every time I pick up the pen.
But I really like, I love like when I see
people can draw and put stuff in their brain on
the piece of paper because I can see the image
of my head. Then you try to you're trying to
transfer to paper and it's like, dude, put put that
(27:02):
ship down. It is a it's a it's one of
those guy giving abilities because Jaco Hit when I worked
with JCole Lot at Puma, and he said that one time,
He's like, how you uh come up with this? And
like it's the same way you can come up with
like how you right rap, It's just a thing that
you I don't know why I'm good at it, but
it just happened that way. Like it's not me, it's
(27:24):
just who I gave you this, um, So that's what
that is. Man, It's not a you know, I don't know.
I can't even write like it's not something if to me,
it feels like it's not something you're gonna really sit
down and and practice. Like yeah, you can probably do
it more and learn techniques and stuff. But like if
you have that that vision and then someone's kind of
starts teaching you certain elements to drawing and stuff, then
(27:46):
you get, you know, really really good. But like if
I sat down and practice drawing, I still would not
be good at it. I can confidently say that I would.
I will always suck at drawing. That's what it is.
A lot of design there's like different types of designers.
So there's like designers are like creative and can draws
a gist. They can just draw so they can like
(28:07):
you know, recreate something they see, or there's like you know,
then there's blends of all these things. There's levels of
all this. So it is a you could learn to draw.
You may not be able to take your ideas and
make them into something, but you could practice something just
like you can go out and get shots up, learn
to do straight line is different. Alright, I swear directly
(28:29):
after this break, Jeremy is going to talk about his
work with LaMelo Ball and j Cole and that entire process.
So stay put. Walkie Talkies Podcast on the College Athletes Network,
featured on I Heart Radio, will be right back. Al right,
and we're back. This is Walkie Talkies Podcast on the
College Athletes Network, and I'm your host, Noah Bono. Again,
make sure you are subscribed to the podcast, and please,
(28:49):
if you'd be so kind, leave a review and much appreciated.
And now let's bring back in Jeremy and talk about
his work with Jay Cole and LaMelo Ball. So you
mentioned j Cole, I wanted to ask you about um,
you know, you worked with him on the RS Streamer
series and you work with LaMelo Ball. Uh, And I
know that Puma's kind of identity is like not to
(29:09):
sign you know, that big name athlete. They're really looking
at like the younger guys and how they can kind
of lead lead the pack, which I think is really cool.
I think it's a good um the version away from
you know, just signing Kawhi Leonard or bron who whoever.
You know, like they're they're kind of taking a different
approach to it with I think is cool. So you know,
what's it like working with LaMelo, working with Jake Cole,
(29:31):
like designing these shoes and getting you know, putting your
creative input in and also taking what they kind of
add to it to ultimately put the vision together. Yeah, man,
I think. Uh, Cole is you know, he's older, he's
like my age, so he's more, he's been you know,
he just understands that there's it's not just one way
to make something work or there's challenges in everybody's business.
(29:53):
Tybi Uh. He's he likes to learn things, so that
was nice to like, you know, he asked questions and
like want to learn what the processes and stuff like that,
which was refreshing because I've worked a lot of people,
you know, Cole was one of the better ones in
terms of just like understanding what the business was and
stuff like that. So that was that was nice. And
he's just a good dude, like super humble dude, super
(30:15):
humble dude. Um. And then Mellow is younger. You know,
he's a different generation to me, so he's he's probably
more colorful than I am. So it's good that you
get feedback from from him that you probably wouldn't. I
wouldn't take from my own mind to see what he likes.
So it's like taking. Uh, he's all he's all about color,
so like our our conversations are more color based than
(30:35):
anything else would mellow. You know, we've worked with him
less because we worked with him through COVID too, so
that was like being the jacked up apart. But we've
worked with him. You know, we'll get on Texas, He'll
send over random colors they likes and stuff like that.
You know, he's good dude. He's like little brother vibes.
He's like, yeah, I'm I'm a big brother in my family,
so like, yeah, we worked well together just because it's like,
(30:56):
you know, big little brother hilarious. Oh bad man. I
remember watching the ball in the family and he was like,
I don't know fifteen, I'm like, what are we gonna do?
And this guy's like he's in the NBA, Like he's funny. Yeah, um,
so do you work? You know, I'm trying to look
it up and stuff. It's not as easy as I
(31:17):
thought it would be trying to figure out who with
Puma has signature shoe deals. So I know there's the
Dreamer series, there's the Mellow Ball shoes. Is there anybody
else who has shoes out or coming out that you're
you're also working on? No, I mean the Clyde Clyde
was was the original signatures shoe obviously. Um, there's stuff
(31:38):
I can't talk about yet. So there's stuff that's coming
that you'll see. But cool. Cool, Yeah, no, no worries. Um,
So I do want to ask about I mentioned you know,
Puma signed the deal with Mikey Williams. I don't know
if this goes into what you can't talk about totally
fine if so, But is it is there a chance
that we see Mike Williams as the first college athlete
(32:01):
with a signature shoe because it's it would make sense
with the n I L that you know, that's where
this maybe goes when he gets into college, if he
even takes the college out, he might do the G
League thing or or what. But I mean, do you
think that that's something we could see? Maybe? You know,
I couldn't tell you even I can tell you actually,
but yeah, tell I don't I couldn't tell you what
(32:23):
to do? Cool? Yeah, So still still new, so we'll
see what happens, right. Um. So another interesting thing is like,
you know you're you love to draw, You've been drawing
since you were twelve, you played basketball. Now you're designing
shoes for basketball players to wear and perform in. Was
this sort of the long term goal when you were
younger to be where you are at or just something
(32:44):
along these lines, like what was what you imagined you know, ten, fifteen,
twenty years ago? Is that what you've gotten now? Or
was it? Is this come something completely different than what
you had thought? No? This is it? Is it? It's
probably more than it really. You know, when you're that young,
all you wanted somebody to wear your shoe in real life,
Like that's all you want to have a real shoe.
It's a physical thing that you can touch. And now
(33:06):
it's uh, you know that's every shoe designers original dream.
And then you get to it, you get to you know,
I'm super blessed. I got it good. I can't. I
have no complaints about where I met um and I
never thought I could go this far. Really, I didn't
know it was the thing, you know, I mean you
just when you're that younger, like, yes, somebody draws these shoes.
(33:27):
I want to be Tinker Hatfield, who's the designer of
all the Jordan's. Were most of the Jordan's and that's
all we knew at that point. So just getting to
design the shoe that came out with the whole that
was the whole dream at that at that stage. Now
now the dreams to take this brand that wasn't known
for basketball and make it better than the rest of
the brands that do basketball all day. Yeah, I think
(33:48):
that's I think that's the coolest part where it's like
when I used to think of Puma for the longest time,
So I graduated high school in twenty seventeen. Puma Puma
Hoops kind of started establishing itself around two thousand and eighteen,
like up until that point, maybe up until like two
thousand I think it was maybe the pandemic. I don't
remember when I first heard like there was gonna be
a Puma shoe line. But for the longest time, like
Puma to me was always like no, I'm cool, Like
(34:09):
I won't even wear Puma socks, Like I'm not. I'm
not funking with that um. But to be honest, before
I even knew who you were in the Akron tie
to you know, my Ducane tie whatever. Before I even
knew any of that, I didn't know who the shoe
designer was for Puma. And I'm seeing like some of
these cool shoes coming out, I'm going, Okay, well, once
I get out of college and I'm not tied to
any one brand, like, I'm gonna buy some Pumas because
(34:31):
these actually look cool, they look comfortable, comfortable like So
it's crazy the kind of one e D I did.
And that's crazy that now I'm talking to the guy
that it's in charge of that one eighties. So, UM,
I know you own UM, your own your own business.
It's called Freeman Plat. I have that right. It's your
own company. You're the owner of the creative director. UM.
So just explain for the listeners what Freeman Plat is,
(34:53):
where the idea came from, what the business is all
about UM, and where they can find it. Yeah, originally
started I think it was two thousand and fourteen, probably
something like that, bas I was at Rebox and it
was like, you know, you're still in corporate environment, so
it was a you're still gonna box somewhat. So this
is like a creative outlet outside of the box of
(35:13):
creative creativity. So it was like, and I had established
myself as a designer, that they you know, you should
just establish yourself as a designer where I could go
to the VP and be like, I'm about to start
a footwear bar and this is what it is I
have to do before I have a kid, blah blah blah,
because I want to start this is while I went
to college, was to build a shoe brand. And the
way I did did it originally was everything I did
(35:35):
was hybrids of like dress shoes or dress apparel and
athletic uh stuff. So that was the way I've worked
around like the non compete type vibe um that most
people are scared to ask the question about. So there's
not there was. There's not many people within the footwear industry.
They have a footwear company there for sure, But at
(35:56):
the same time, it was just me. Um. It was
sounding like four hundred, five hundred dollars shoes, like it's
from made Italy, made in Portugal, So I like we
were competing with, you know, the exporting goods of foot locker.
So it was it was all good. They let me
do it. UM did that all the way up through
to the Achilles series. Really, when I tore my Achille,
(36:16):
everything sort of slowed back down. And then we just
rereleased a new collection with infram Platque called Earl Gray,
which is basically the casual side of Fremm Platts. So
it's better pride, lower price points, still high quality stuff
boy like hoodie based, hat based, all this like essentials
that I like to wear because now back then it
was like I want to get rich off Freo and
plat and now it's like, I want to just do
(36:38):
stuff that's fun, but I like to wear. I want
to get to my my friends like to wear about
um And yeah, man, we just released our hoodies the
other day. Did pretty good the first day, the first
couple of days. But yeah, everything find everything on free
and plat dot com see UM. So ultimately, I like
to tie the show together with how your walk On
journey and college basketball journey in general and all the
(37:00):
things you endured during that process and just some of
the things you had to go through an experience during
those four years, like what they taught you and ultimately
what you look back on during those times that you
have taken with you into your current career. I know
you mentioned work ethic was a big thing from you know,
your transition period, but what are some of the other
things that just like you know, living everyday life that
you may be you know, equate back to your days
(37:22):
as a walk on and as a college athlete. Um.
Every day there's a I don't know that this fight
didn't come from that actual part of this maybe within me,
but the whole the drive part of it, like the
drive to become something somebody I tell you can't be.
That's part of the walker on journey though, because told
that they can't do anything but be a walking um,
(37:44):
that you're small and you know all these things. So yeah,
that I think the drive of the every day of
like being told that you can't do something, you can't
become something is definitely a clear translation into running or
like you know, heading up puma basketball and like want
to knock and I He's head around like that's all
that's my whole thing. I started like bashing other dudes
(38:04):
like as much as possiblus, that's all I do. UM,
So that was That's a big thing that happened. I
think the handling adversity and like having to like recover
quickly from things. That definitely is a translation. Whether it's
you know, you have a good day of practice, you
still don't play the next game, or you have a
good week of practice you're in the starting five group
(38:27):
and you still don't play. Like all those things like
being able to handle that and go back into practice
the next week and uh still work hard. That is
you know it just it just sickens up your skin
really more or anything uh makes you handle. You know,
I can handle a lot of the little stupid stuff
that people forgot about within corporate America. That doesn't really
(38:47):
matter because you just need everybody's need to calm down,
just like it's gonna be okay, not that serious, just
making shoes. Um yeah, those are those are the two
big ones. I mean, I don't think of some other stuff.
It's been a long time. May should have called me
like probably six years. God remember the last I wasn't
even Yeah, um no, man, it's cool that that's all good.
(39:13):
That's all stuff that you know. I enjoy hearing. I'm
sure people listening enjoy hearing because, like you said, like
some of those little moments like I feel the same way,
like certain stuff happens and I'm like, that's just not
a big deal. That's not something I'm gonna pour my
energy into. Like, Okay, it happened, but I've seen this happen.
I've seen that happen. I've seen so and so, dude whatever,
and it's like, you know, it kind of just shaped
(39:35):
my perspective in a a little bit more of like
a I don't know, I guess you'd call it mature
manner of just like what you're gonna let what you're
gonna let bother you, what you're gonna let you know,
you're just gonna let bounce off your shoulder. It's not
that big of a deal kind of thing, because I
think a lot of people just dwell too much and
you know, focus on the uncontrollables. And it's like, man,
like you just put your time and your energy into
(39:57):
ship that like you can control, and just take the
ship that you can't control for what it is, you
probably would find a little bit more. No, I don't know,
I'm not trying to Yeah, no, no, you're right, man.
I think handling success to like as a walking you
get success in a different in a different light. Than
the guys that get success no matter who they are,
how they play, you know what I mean. This country guys,
(40:19):
it's just different. I think we'll in in after in
post basketball life, it'll work out well for walk On
in terms of like how to handle success and how
to protect it and how to you know, enjoy it
and not get too high and I get too low
type like you mean, it's like you just learn a lot.
You don't even know you're learning it while you're doing it,
but it's teaching using stuff that uh it may and
(40:41):
it may sound too at first, but in life, in
the grand scheme of things, I think it is, you know,
help like I'm not I'm glad it's over, but I'm
glad I did it. You know. That's That's that's why
everybody telling asked me how how I feel about masks.
I'm like, I'm glad I did it, but I'm glad
it's over, right, Like it's you know, now that it's over,
it's it's way easier for you to look back on
it and be like, Okay, you know, for the most part,
(41:02):
that probably sucks, but I'm glad that I at least
you know, it happened. Like it's over. It's what ten
years over with for you, Like at least you you
got the experience, you took your lessons from it, like,
and that's kind of where I'm at. I feel like
i'm you know, as I'm on the tail end of
this um these five years. It's like I'm so close
to the situation. And I've been to three schools, so
you know, I've taken something with me from each school.
(41:23):
But I know that, like there's so much more that's
gonna come out of this or come from this from
my own perspective, you know, to three ten years down
the line that I can't really see quite yet because
you know, I'm still kind of in the thick of it,
Like it's too it's too fresh. So you know, I
always think that's something interesting too, because when we're too
close the situations, like what are you gonna do? I mean,
(41:43):
like you can evaluate and observe as much as you want,
but ultimately, when you take that step away, like more
ship kind of hits you in the face and you're like,
all right, okay, you you know, you find some peace
with things, you find some clarity, you have a little
bit of regret, but you know, you know how to
deal with the regret, you know how to deal with
all these stuff. So, um all right, man, well that's
(42:03):
a rap. I pre shaate you coming on the show.
You know, really good to hear your journey, your story
and you know some of the stuff you've got going
on with Puma, you know, super interesting to me, especially
because I'm you know, not a Puma guy. But that's
not to say that I won't be a Puma guy.
You know, once I get out off these Nike ties,
I'm free to wear whatever I want. Um. So yeah, man,
I appreciate you coming on sharing your story. Uh. You know,
(42:24):
I hope people learn something from this, takes on from
it because you're out of you're you're in a really
big spot. That's especially for someone like me being in
the in the basketball world like I am. Like you know,
you're designing the shoes that you know, LaMelo is wearing,
Jay Cole is wearing. Like it's just super cool for me. Um.
So yeah, man, thank you, Bro, I appreciate it. Keep
it up, Keep it up. This is a good This
is a good message you give out these kids, and
(42:45):
I think about doing this through Yeah, welcome mane if
you could give him a blueprint, you know, before they
get in and take the role. You know, maybe they
can make it more like a better decision, because I
know I had had no information, you know, going into it.
I was just kind of like, Oh, I'm gonna be
on a Division one team. Okay. Cool. You get there
and you get punched right in the mouth right away
(43:07):
every day, every day, every day. But it's okay, that's
a rap. For episode five, Jeremy Sale, head of design
for Puma Hoops. What a great talk about hoops, about life,
about not taking it too serious, and about me being
the world's shittiest drawer artist whatever you wanna call it.
Really cool stuff. Really though, I wish I could draw
(43:27):
anyone looking to invest and maybe getting me the iPad
with the pen so I can start practicing my skills
on there. That'd be great. Thank you. I know you're
probably thinking, why can't you just you know, get a
pad in the paper and do it on there? Yeah? Well,
I want the five device with the two pen. This
is not an Apple endorsement or advertisement, but I just
I want it. I want to draw on there. It
just seems so much cooler and funner anyway, have you
(43:50):
enjoyed this episode. Please leave the show a review on
Apple podcast or wherever you listen, start it rated, write
something however you feel would really mean a lot to me.
Uh to get feedback. We we love that. And and
please make sure you are subscribed to Walkie Talkies podcast.
It's on the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast or
wherever you listen to your podcast so you don't miss
any It's like clockwork. Episode six will be out next Wednesday,
(44:12):
So thank you all for listening and I will see
you then you. Walkie Talkies is a production of I
(44:39):
Heart Radio and the College Athletes Network. For more podcasts
from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Noah Buono
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