With the majority of his Hall of Fame career playing for the New York Knicks, many associate Patrick Ewing with New York City but he first gained national attention for his play during high school at Cambridge Rindge and Latin located in historic Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ewing was back in Cambridge this past Saturday to celebrate the release of the CNCPTS x Ewing 33 Hi, a collaboration between the Harvard Square sneaker boutique, Concepts, and Ewing’s own sneaker brand, Ewing Athletics.
With his friends and family in the store, Ewing shook hands and took pictures with hundreds of fans that were lining up down the block for a chance to not only cop the shoe but to meet one of Cambridge’s greats. Ewing was proudly wearing the shoe, which paid tribute to his high school days at Rindge and Latin, and took some time in between the fanfare to chat with Nice Kicks about Ewing Athletics, Cambridge, the NBA and plenty more.
-Words and interview by Ananth Pandian
Nice Kicks: I only got to Concepts an hour ago but you have been here for a little over two hours now, shaking hands and taking pictures. What does this type of fan support mean to you?
Patrick Ewing: It’s great to see. The people here in Cambridge and Boston have shown me a lot of support for a long time. This is where it all started for me, in terms of learning how to play the game. It is great that all of these fans came out to show love for not only me but also for the brand.
Nice Kicks: Yeah, let’s talk about that. Concepts is showing love and respect to your old high school, Rindge and Latin, with this collaboration.
Patrick Ewing: Yeah, it definitely it is great. Even though when I played we had slightly different colors, this is the new color but it looks great. Concepts has done an outstanding job promoting it and getting the word out which brought out all of these people today. I love how they are supporting the brand.
Patrick Ewing in the CNCPTS x Ewing 33 Hi (photo by @cncpts on IG)Nice Kicks: I noticed at Summer League you were wearing Ewings while coaching…
Patrick Ewing: [Smiles] At Summer League, you don’t have to wear a coat and tie while coaching so I was able to show the shoes off.
Nice Kicks: How did the players react? Did they give you and the shoes a lot of love?
Patrick Ewing: Oh yeah, a lot of them give me love. A number of them asked me how they can get some, so I sent out shoes to some of them while some of them bought them, themselves.
Nice Kicks: So lets talk about Cambridge Rindge and Latin. Besides you, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon came out of there. What makes people of that caliber come out of the school?
Patrick Ewing: Yeah, we’ve had a good number of famous people come out of Rindge. We also have a good number of people who are in politics. I enjoyed growing up here. I have my family, friends I went to high school with and some friends I went to grade school with here with me today. I still keep my roots here and keep in touch with the folks here so that’s why they come out and support me and the brand.
