Is $12K too much to spend on sneakers? It isn’t when you’re MLB player Shane Victorino and it’s definitely isn’t too much when the proceeds go to charity.
Our friends over at TheShoeGame.com gave us the full story behind Victorino & the Doernbecher Air Jordan 8s:
In Portland, Oregon on November 7th, Nike unveiled their Doernbecher Freestyle Collection for 2014. Not only did Nike help six children design six different pairs of sneakers, but they also auctioned off the first pairs of the collection to the highest bidders leaving proceeds to be donated to the Doernbecher Hospital.
The auction started at a cool $2,000, then the next bid came in at $5,000. A few bids later, the sneaker loving Outfielder for the Boston Red Sox, Shane Victorino, raised his hand and shut the auction down with a whopping $12,000 winning bid. The young sir who designed the Air Jordan 8 Doernbecher stopped to take a photo with Shane Victorino after signing the sneakers.
Here’s the backstory behind the inspiration of the Doernbecher Air Jordan 8s:
Caden Lampert started feeling sick at a basketball practice in December 2013. That was on a Wednesday. On Thursday he came home from school because he felt nauseated and couldn’t hold food down. They thought it was the flu, but by Friday he could barely walk or open his eyes. In the OHSU Doernbecher Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), Caden was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a life-threatening autoimmune disease where the body’s immune system begins to attack the body itself. Caden stayed in the hospital for two months, regaining his strength and relearning how to walk, feed himself, write, bathe and just about everything else.
Today Caden is recovering like a champ and he barely even remembers his weeks in the hospital. But the family is faced with a constant dilemma: rest is key to his full recovery, and rest is the last thing he wants to do. He likes to rumble and play all day long. As he races up and down the stairs in his leg braces, shooting rubber bands with utter precision, his mom reminds him to take it easy and slow down. She does her best to divert his constant quest for action and speed with things that won’t drain his energy, like taking a welding class and learning to play guitar.
Caden’s decision to design the Air Jordan Retro 8 DB reflects his burning passion for the game of basketball, complete with flames on the outsole and his own basketball jersey number, 14, on the custom glow-in-the-dark, speckled upper design. A boom box on the inside of one tongue shares his love of music, while the other bears the name of his brother Ryland, who battled childhood cancer. And there’s also a special shout-out to both of his brothers Blake and Ryland, on the foot straps. Caden’s collection also includes a cap with the words “Hang loose,” “Rock on” and “Brave,” and a T-shirt that brings his passions for music, basketball and bravery together.
This is a huge gesture by Victorino. He not only gets a dope pair of sneakers but also gives to an amazing cause. Hopefully more athletes come out in support of this cause.