From Billy Ray Bates’ Grosby pairs to Scottie Thompson’s growing collection, these are the PBA stars who sport their own signature shoes.
Shoes are a huge part of basketball culture all around the world — for instance, almost every NBA player has a deal with a shoe brand and wears their personalized kicks to every game, fans are hyper-aware when they see their favorite players wearing new shoes, and there are social media pages dedicated just for kicks. The world of basketball shoes is truly its own thing, even in the Philippines.
Though it is still a rare thing (though it may not be for long), there have been some standout players in the PBA who have collaborated with shoe brands and worn their signature sneakers on the court.
Billy Ray Bates
Once upon a time, Australian brand Grosby was one of the biggest shoe brands worn by PBA stars. In fact there was even a ‘Grosby Mythical Five’ including legends like Robert Jaworski and Mon Fernandez who sported pairs of Grosby. But one of the PBA stars who had his own collection of signature sneakers with the brand was Billy Ray Bates.
Dubbed “Black Superman” by his adoring Filipino fans, the former PBA Champion and Best Import came out with a signature shoe with this name — the Grosby Black Superman shoe. As one of the first PBA players to get his own personalized kicks and endorsement deals with a major brand, it was a huge hit, and in 2018, the shoe was re-released as the “Billy Ray Bates Special”.
Terrence Romeo
There was a time in the past when Terrence Romeo was known for wearing his well-loved, taped-up pair of Kyrie 3s. Whether this was some kind of athlete superstition or not, it seemed that the only time the PBA star was game to swap them out was when he could wear his own signature shoes.
In 2017, Romeo became the first Asian player to have his own signature shoe with Peak when they launched the first-ever TR7s in a deep crimson red shade. And they may have been one of his secret weapons.
When Romeo swapped out his old Kyrie kicks for his signature Peak shoes in the middle of the 2018 PBA Commissioner’s Cup, he suddenly popped off in one game against Alaska, recording 17 points and eight assists.
Scottie Thompson
If there’s any PBA player who is top of mind when it comes to signature sneakers, it’s probably Scottie Thompson and his partnership with World Balance.
When World Balance first launched the ‘Scottie 1’ in 2021, it sold out in less than 24 hours in both physical and online stores, and since then, they have continued to release more editions of Scottie’s collection. Now, there is even the ‘Scottie 2’ — which comes in the ‘Alamat’ model that sports the red and white colors of Barangay Ginebra — and ‘Scottie Kids’.
Mark Caguioa
As a nine-time PBA champion, to come up with a shortlist of Mark Caguioa’s best games in his career would take a long time. But, back in 2016, Mark “The Spark” himself gave some insight into what he thinks some of his best games were.
“Back when I was wearing my Accel MC47 against your Nike and adidas, I played my best games wearing these shoes,” Caguioa wrote in an Instagram post in 2016. The Accel MC47 was truly a special pair to the PBA star, as these signature shoes featured his initials and his jersey number and came in three colorways — white and gold, black and gray, and white and red.
Jio Jalalon
Just last year, four-time PBA All-Star Jio Jalalon became one of Peak’s ambassadors, and not only does he endorse the brand’s shoes on the court, but he also has his own signature pair: the Limited Edition SonicBoom.
This pair of shoes is truly special to Jalalon, who grew up borrowing basketball shoes just so he could play. Now, having his own sneaker that features his initials truly means a whole lot to him, and is a testament to his years of hard work paying off.
Banner images from World Balance and PBA Media.
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