Old School Design: Pony City Wings

Everyone remembers the year that Michael Jordan introduced us to the first Air Jordan. That shoe would change an entire industry and set the sales of basketball shoes on fire. The colorful look of the original Air Jordan was like nothing ever seen before and set the basketball shoe industry into a frenzy.

To capitalize on the success of the Air Jordan and its unique look, other shoe companies brought out their version of the colorful shoe. One of the most notable was the Converse Weapons that Larry Bird and Magic Johnson wore in their famous dueling advertisements.

There is one more shoe from that era that tried to capitalize on the Air Jordan color craze that many may have forgotten, the Pony City Wing. The City Wing was a shoe that was very similar in design to the Air Jordan 1, but featured Pony's trademark chevron down the side. If you take a close look, the similarities are apparent. The City Wing came in several color combinations, but was best known for the red, white and black versions.

The most noteworthy Pony endorser was none other than Anthony "Spud" Webb. Spud Webb wore the low cut version of his City Wings during the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk Competition. Spud elevated in his City Wings to capture the Slam Dunk Championship over teammate Dominique Wilkins that night. For one night, the City Wing ruled the basketball shoe world! Another Pony City Wing wearer was Orlando Woolridge of the Chicago Bulls.

The City Wing rode the wave created by the Air Jordan and is one of the more obscure members of the basketball shoe craze of the 1980's.

Comments

[Erik D.]

I've noticed lately that I don't see near as many big-time shoe commercials as I used to in the 90's. I think back to the MJ and Bird greatness and realize that we don't seem to have that going on anymore as far as shoe commercials go. They seem to be few and far between these days.

[Zubaz is Zu-back!!!]

Oh wow, thanx so much for making a post about Pony City Wings!!! I had a black red and white pair when I was a kid in the 80's. I was absolutely blown away when they started selling them again in the early 2000's. Apparently Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit had something to do with them coming back.

"Mr. Kwatinetz's company (The Firm) paid an undisclosed sum for the nearly defunct Pony sneaker brand in 2001 with the idea that the Firm's stable of stars (Durst among them) would wear those shoes, generating buzz."

Snoop Dogg would get his own line of Pony shoes soon after. The latest to get in with Pony is Randy Moss, who has his own line of cleats. But this is probably gonna blow you away:

Go to http://pony.com/ and click on the "Vintage: Throwbacks are back" link. You will see they are now selling City Wings in outrageous colors and patterns, like neon and zebra print.

I also have a vintage baby blue and white pair of City Wings, with silver chevrons. Well, almost. I only have ONE shoe. I never found the other to complete the pair. It's a long story on how I was only able to find one shoe, so I will spare you the details!

I also have a vintage pair of royal blue with orange chevrons Pony Californias from the late 70's. I got them on eBay in 2000 right before Pony made a comeback. I wore them once on a trip to NYC in 2004, and this one kid in the subway saw them and said, "Yo, homeboy's got some OLD SCHOOL sneakers!!!" One of my proudest moments.

Also, in the late 90's, I wore the hell out of a red pair of Pony Anaheims from the 80's. They were astroturf baseball cleats, but the spikes were real short and made of rubber so you could wear them like sneakers. I also still have a pair of black Pony boxing shoes with white chevrons from the 90's. They are bad-ass. The chevrons are slightly different from how they looked in the 80's. They are the epitome of low-profile, and I was wearing them waaaay before low-profile was the trendy buzzword in the sneaker industry.

[Jim Ransdell]

I had the red/white/black high tops and also had a pair that was three different shades of light gray back in the day. Loved those things!