ATLANTA – On Friday, adidas decided to pull a controversial T-shirt that used the story of Louisville guard Kevin Ware's shattered leg to promote its latest marketing slogan – a particularly loathsome move even for the shoe industry and college sports.





The shirt featured adidas' new mantra, "Rise To the Occasion." Only the "s" in "Rise" is shaped like a Louisville No. 5, the same number worn by Ware, who broke his leg in last Sunday's Midwest Region final. The number is also on the back of the shirt. You could buy one for $24.99.

Louisville acknowledged the "5" stood for Ware, which put the NCAA in violation of its own bizarre rules and opened itself up to potential legal action. So it's likely that legal liability – not found conscience – is what stopped sales of the T-shirt. USA Today first reported the decision to halt sales.

The fact that it took days to occur and no one at either Louisville or the NCAA was able or willing to halt the campaign immediately remains the story, though. The credibility damage was already done.

And it drives home why college sports through its forever arrogance has put its entire business model at risk as the potential landmark O'Bannon v. NCAA lawsuit churns on with the capability of sending everything into chaos. Rather than bend and seek compromise, it allowed a corporate partner to exploit a brutal injury of an unpaid "amateur."









This former issue dates back to 1977, when a then-high school all-star game promoter named Sonny Vaccaro sat in a meeting at a fledgling sneaker company named Nike, which specialized in running shoes and desperately wanted to get into the lucrative basketball market.

[Also: Kevin Ware graciously adjusts to the spotlight after horrific injury]

In Nike's old, humble headquarters in Beaverton, Ore., Vaccaro looked across the table at founder Phil Knight and executive Rob Strasser and laid out the plan: pay college coaches to make their players wear Nike shoes, T-shirts and sweats that the company would provide for free.

Vaccaro's point was simple: forget the small change of getting some university to buy the product; the fact Nike will be associated with great programs will pay dividends in the end. Mostly by constructing a powerhouse brand.

"I remember I told them specifically, 'if we ever get our logo on the cover of Sports Illustrated, then we've won everything, everyone will know who Nike is,'" Vaccaro recalled to Yahoo! Sports on Friday. "You can't buy that kind of advertising."

Knight and Strasser were immediate believers in the concept, then revolutionary at the time. They empowered Vaccaro to go sign up some coaches.

Soon Jerry Tarkanian of UNLV agreed to a contract for $5,000. "I thought Sonny was crazy," Tark said. "You're going to pay me to take free stuff that I currently have to pay for?" Within a couple years, John Thompson and the iconic Georgetown Hoyas were in the Nike family.

Everything blew up from there. Nike made a lot of Sports Illustrated covers … and attracted a lot of controversy over the deals.

Vaccaro, now retired, eventually took a job at adidas. In 2001 he signed Rick Pitino, who had just been hired by the University of Louisville. The Cardinals remain an adidas school as they prepare here for a Final Four game Saturday against Wichita State.

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