Wednesday night, the Obsessive Sneaker Disorder crew had Nike designer Tinker Hatfield on their show. Hatfield is probably second only to Michael Jordan himself as far as the impact he’s had on sneaker history, the community, and the culture. I haven’t taken the time to listen in live in quite a while but I usually catch up during my working hours, you know like 3 in the morning. I’m glad I took the time to call in and log on this week, listening to the show was inspiring to say the least, and it was good to see some familiar screen names in the chat, as well.

One of the things that I took away from it is the same thing I’ve always taken away from anything involving Tinker. Tinker is just himself, he doesn’t try to be someone he’s not. He knows when he can play it up a little and when things have to be serious, but the one thing that I respect the most about him is that he’s always genuine and true to himself. It’s something that I believe makes him successful, as well as anyone else who chooses to do so. The show was filled with memorable and quote worthy moments one of which I posted below about the creativity and the process of design, writing, music, poetry or whatever creative release is for you.

Whatever you do is a culmination of everything that you’ve seen and done in your life to that point and it comes back out through your pencil, words or voice. That’s what creativity is.

On the lighter side of things, it was interesting hearing about how crazy people have thought he was at various times in his career, including the when he designed the Air Max 1 and Nike Air Huarache runner. He also tells a few legendary stories, including a time where Michael Jordan calls him up and says, “I told you motherf*cker!”

I have to thank @OSDLive, @OSneakerD and @JoelPDX for making the show come together with Tinker as a guest. It allowed me to not only relive some of my past but also reminded me that there are people like Tinker in the sneaker community that are in it for good reasons and inspiring others to do the same. Finding out that Tinker wears Chucks most of the time was just an added bonus.

Whether you’re young, old, into sneakers a little or a lot, head over to OSD and listen to Episode 198. You’ll be glad you did.

You can follow me on Twitter @sactownxsi and get to know me a little better at nickengvall.com.