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Great info dog. Knew that dunks were prior to 1's but was unaware of the hoya/jordan bit.Kinda, sorta... chicken and egg. Prior to 1985 The Georgetown Hoyas always got special makeup Nike shoes that varyied slightly from the rest of the NCAA. For 1985 Nike had designed a shoe "specially" for the Hoyas called the "Air-Hoya" while the rest of the NCAA was slated to wear the Dunk. This "Air-Hoya" was basically a modified version of the dunk with attached leather ankle supports and an extra support at the midfoot.
When Nike signed Jordan it was under the condition that he got his own shoe for his rookie year. Since designing and putting a shoe into production takes months Nike decided their best option was to take the design for the "Air Hoya" and turn it into the "Air Jordan".
IMO even though the AJ1/hoya had "Air" and the Dunk didnt I still feel like theyre less premium than the Dunk. I say this because the sole and midsole on the AJ1 has less detail than the dunk and the tongue of the AJ1 is much cheaper looking and less durable due to the lace stablizer being cut into the tongue instead of stitched on.
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