Update: The shoes sold for $11,200 after the auction closed on December 11. The buyer wished to remain anonymous, but did disclose that they are a vintage shoe collector from Malaysia.

At the 1972 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, Nike was just a scrappy hometown startup with a new logo, little name recognition, and a waffle iron. To spread the word about his new brand, the company’s cofounder, Phil Knight, decided to try some guerrilla marketing tactics by handing out screen-printed running shirts and free shoes to athletes.

Nike estimates that about a dozen pairs of these “Moon Shoes”—nicknamed because the waffle pattern on the soles left an indentation on the infield turf similar to footprints left on the moon—were hand-cobbled before the meet and given to five marathoners to try during their race.

Over the decades, as Nike’s empire blossomed, the lore surrounding the Moon Shoes ballooned for both sneaker collectors and running history buffs. And now, for the first time, a pair is being auctioned on eBay.

Geller founded, and later closed, the world’s first museum dedicated to sneakers, called the ShoeZeum. As he scoured the internet for rare kicks, he considered his collection incomplete without what he calls the “holy grail” of running shoes—Nike’s Moon Shoe.

It’s not just Geller who has treated these shoes with such reverence. The sporting goods giant displays a pair—crafted by Nike’s third employee, Geoff Hollister, using fishing line to attach the logos—in a glass case inside its Portland world headquarters.

There are only two other pairs with known whereabouts. One is secured inside Geller’s safe deposit box. This past summer he outbid Nike for the pair, sold for an undisclosed amount by former Cal State Fullerton runner Mark Covert, who ran in them at the 1972 trials.

As for the third pair? It could be yours, if you are willing to shell out some serious cash. Geller is helping another former Oregon runner and 1972 Trials marathoner, Bruce Mortenson, sell them on eBay. The auction ends on December 11, and bidding has eclipsed $8,000 as of Wednesday afternoon. Geller and Mortenson did not disclose their agreement for the sale.

“The pair represent the beginning of the shoe boom and the running boom.” Geller said. “I have been selling shoes for 16 years, and I have never seen so much interest.”

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For 44 years, Mortenson had no idea how valuable the shoes were. He had them shoved in a box in his basement in a Minnesota suburb until 2008 when he gave them to a local shoe store to put on display.

Then, in June, he spotted a front-page feature story in the Oregonian about Geller’s purchase of Covert’s Moon Shoes.

“I thought, ‘Those look a lot like my pair,’” Mortenson said. He contacted Geller.

“I got the email and I was like, ‘No effing way; there is no way there is another pair of these out there,” Geller said. He was skeptical, until he researched Mortenson's running history.

Mortenson, now retired at 72, was coached in college by Bill Bowerman—Nike’s famous original innovator and cofounder with Knight. In 1969, Mortenson helped run the brick and mortar location of Blue Ribbon Sports, Knight and Bowerman’s Eugene-based precursor to Nike.

Before he quit working for the store and moved to Minnesota, he remembers telling a friend, “This won’t go anywhere.”

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Mortenson returned to the shop before the 1972 Trials, where an employee handed him a pair of white Moon Shoes with stitched swooshes on each side.

“It was probably the first free thing I had ever gotten for running,” Mortenson said. “They had a heck of a lot more cushioning then I had been used to.”

Mortenson said he had a disappointing trials result, finishing the marathon in 2:36:00. He doesn’t really know why he kept the shoes all these years, but now, seeing their value rise online, he is very glad that he did.

As for their performance on a run, Mortenson proffered his own review.

“They were pretty decent,” he said.

Kit Fox Special Projects Editor Kit has been a health, fitness, and running journalist for the past five years.

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