Y’all have seen the 2003 movie, “Holes,” right? You know, the film where Stanley Yelnats IV (Shia LaBeouf) has to spend time at a juvenile detention camp because he was wrongfully convicted of stealing some expensive shoes from a homeless shelter?
Now imagine that happening in reality (minus a young teenager being wrongfully accused of stealing them).
Recall the Jordan 3s Spike Lee wore at the 2019 Oscars? He was seen wearing them as he accepted the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his 2018 film, “BlacKkKlansman.”
Those shoes were custom-made by Tinker Hatfield, the legendary Nike sneaker designer, in honor of Lee’s 2019 Oscar nomination. They were given to Lee and other people close to the iconic filmmaker. It’s rumored that only four or five pairs were made.
Nearly four years later, a pair of those sneakers have been found by a recovering addict at a homeless shelter in Portland, Ore. James Free, who was a worker in training at Portland Rescue Mission, is the man who found the shiny gold kicks and brought them to leadership at the organization.
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“He was sorting through a large crate of backlogged donations when he saw the shiny pair of gold Nike Air Jordan 3 sneakers,” the Portland Rescue Mission said. “After gathering second opinions from sneaker-heads and experts, staff members realized what they had on their hands.”
As a sneakerhead, my first thought would be to sell them joints and get as much money as possible. But thankfully, Free and the Portland Rescue Mission are much more generous than I am.
According to Portland Rescue Mission, the shoes will now go up for auction and are expected to sell for upwards of $15,000 when the auction ends on Dec. 18. All proceeds from the sale will go to the nonprofit organization in hopes of funding recovery programs that helped people like Free.
Still questioning if the sneakers are legit? The designer himself, Tinker Hatfield, authenticated the shoes, telling the Portland Rescue Mission, “I’m thrilled the shoes ended up here. It’s a happy ending to a really great project.”
They still don’t know who donated the sneakers.