My first pair of white sneakers were Converse All Stars and they squeaked better than any sneaker ever. I remember gritting my teeth a lot from the screeching noise. We always called them tennis shoes instead of sneakers. You couldn't wear them outside. They probably cost my parents a fortune but we were never told how much any thing cost so who knows.

As I remember sneakers in those days did not offer near the protection as today's shoes which are many many times better than those. Cushion was not thought of, although they were suppose to make us run faster and jump higher but not until we had our breakfast of Cheerios.

For basketball practice we would put on our first pair of long white socks and then smear vaseline petroleum jelly all over the bottoms of our feet right on the socks. Then we would put on at least 2 more pair of long white, did I mention cotton, socks, sometimes three pairs. All of this was to ward off the dreaded and possibly evil blister. We got them anyway but we were convinced it helped.

I remember jealousy over my new white sneakers because even though we had no idea how much anything cost my brothers were sure I had broken the bank when we had to cancel our vacation when our dad got layed off. Even though this had happened before there was no doubt that my selfishness in being signed up for basketball caused the spoiling of our summer fun.