Nike Celebrates Legendary College Basketball Coach George Raveling with Book 2 PE

Nike is celebrating George Raveling, the legendary college basketball player and coach, who broke the Pac-8’s coaching color barrier in 1972, becoming the first Black coach in conference history and coaching the Washington State Cougars to two NCAA tournaments during his tenure. From there, Raveling went on to coach at Iowa and USC before joining Nike, where he was instrumental in convincing Michael Jordan to sign with the young Oregon sportswear brand.

Raveling passed away in September of last year, and this year, in the first NCAA basketball season since his death, Nike is going all out to celebrate the coach’s life and impact. Starting in the NBA, Devin Booker laced up a Coach Rav PE of his Book 2 signature shoe against the 76ers on Tuesday, adding a sleek grey and black colorway as a shoutout to Raveling’s playing career at Villanova.

The slick grey upper is interrupted by embroidered black piping across the mid-section of the upper, intersecting the black side panel Swoosh. Beyond Booker, the shoe will be given to select college teams with ties to Raveling, including USC and Iowa, who will play each other next week, Washington State, and HBCUs Howard and Norfolk State.

In addition to the Book 2 PEs, players will wear celebratory shooting shirts with the Coach Rav quote, "Aim to leave behind more than you have taken from the world,” on the back. To tie the theme together, the coaches will also be wearing pairs of custom Air Force 1s that we haven’t seen yet. To keep up with all the latest Nike PE news, download the Sole Retriever mobile app.

Zach Harris

Zach Harris is a writer based in Philadelphia. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Vice, Complex, High Times, and more. He is obsessed with skateboarding and bowling. He is still looking for his first 300. For tips, reviews, and anything in size 10.5 - zach.h@soleretriever.com