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IT'S THE Michael Jordan dream. Soaring gracefully through the air between defenders, slam-dunking with ease. Or the Walter Payton dream, sprinting past tacklers into the end zone. It's the dream of would-be superstars and armchair athletes from the schoolyard to the big leagues. If only they could jump a little higher, run a bit faster . . .
Promising to help you jump higher and run faster, feeding on that dream, is Strength Footwear Inc., which in four short years has taken a product few believed in and made it a widely accepted training device used by professional athletes such as Ozzie Smith and Jackie Joyner-Kersee as well as everyday jocks. With the device, called the Strength Shoe, the Metairie-based company's volume has grown from about 5,000 shoes sold in 1986 to an estimated 80,000 pairs to be sold this year, with revenues topping the $8 million mark. And since the product is difficult to sell, Strength has developed a new retailing concept -- "Risk Free Retailing" -- which company founder David Bouza thinks could rewrite retailing forever."
At the center of Strength's growth is a shoe that really isn't a shoe in the conventional sense. Used only to work out in and not during actual competition, the Strength Shoe is an extension of weight training focusing on the calf. The shoe, which has a large platform attached, forces the wearer to walk on the ball of the foot, stretching and strengthening muscles not normally used. With the Strength Shoe athletes can increase their vertical jump from 5 to 9 inches and reduce their time in the 40-yard dash by 0.2 seconds. It may not sound like much, but in sports like baseball or basketball it could be the difference between making the team or sitting the bench.
It was the frustration of a "second teamer who was tired of sitting on the bench" that prompted Paul Cox to invent the Strength Shoe back in the early '70s. Cox patented the shoe in 1973 and set about trying to convince coaches and players of the shoe's benefits. It wasn't easy. One early convert, however, was a young sophomore running...