Brandon “Jinx” Jenkins, an award-winning TV, podcast host, photographer, and DJ, has teamed with Nike to create the new Terminator High sneaker to represent his alma mater Morehouse College.
Andscape reports the sneaker is part of Nike’s 2023 Yardrunners 4.0 campaign that was started in 2020 by HBCU students by HBCU students who work at Nike to celebrate the unique culture, style, and history of HBCU campuses, students, and alums across the country through events on campus, scholarships, as well as sneakers and apparel.
Jenkins, who was a member of the Yardrunners 3.0 cohort, is one of five former Yardrunners who received a chance to design a sneaker. The other Yardruners alumni who were able to design a sneaker represent Spelman College, Tuskegee University, Alabama A&M, and Tennessee State.
For Jenkins, representing Morehouse College is special for him.
“Morehouse has that long legacy, that long lineage,” Jenkins told Andscape. “The first time you get to campus, they let you know that you’re standing on the shoulders of people before you, and it’s on you to keep that baton passing. And I thought a lot about those days and that conversation throughout the design.”
According to Jenkins, part of the design of the sneaker was to ensure it could be worn with a suit, which is a staple of being a Morehouse Man.
“I know how the Morehouse dudes dress. When you’re a freshman, you wear suits like, three days out of the week. It’s like, all right, can this sneakily go with a suit? Can you wear them out at a club? Can a freshman wear these and beat them to s— for years by the time he’s graduated?”
The Terminator model is mostly synonymous with the Georgetown University basketball teams of the early 1980s including former New York Knicks center Patrick Ewing.
Jenkins outfitted the shoes with Morehouse’s school logo on the tongue and the school’s maroon and white colors. Additionally, the word “brotherhood” is printed on the laces, representing the bond between men who graduated 50 years ago and the Men of Morehouse who have yet to step on campus. On the inside of one of the sneakers are the statements ‘Stay excellent’ and ‘You got this’ as motivational slogans. Morehouse College was founded as Augusta Institute on February 14, 1867, at Springfield Baptist Church in Augusta, GA, and is one of the most prominent HBCUs in the U.S. Notable alumni include Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., actors Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington, filmmaker Spike Lee and rapper Michael ‘Killer Mike’ Render.
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