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Witness History

Adi Dassler's sports shoe obsession

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.41.6K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How the Dassler brothers created two global sportswear firms.

In 1948, Adi and Rudi Dassler who lived in a small German town fell out. They went on to set up Adidas and Puma.

Adi Dassler played a crucial role in West Germany's victory in the 1954 World Cup with his game-changing footwear.

In 2022, Reena Stanton-Sharma spoke to Adi's daughter Sigi Dassler, who remembers her dad’s obsession with sports shoes and talks about her fondness for rappers Run-DMC, who paid tribute to her dad’s shoes in their 1986 song My Adidas.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix,

0:06.0

the Science of Happiness Podcast.

0:08.0

For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want

0:14.4

to share that science with you.

0:16.1

And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.

0:19.4

I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that

0:25.4

calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service.

0:41.0

Now the story of a sibling rivalry that created two of the biggest

0:45.7

brands in sports. In 2022, Rina Stanton Sharma delved into the story behind Adidas.

0:53.0

It's 1954 and West Germany are going head-to-head with Hungary in the World Cup final,

0:59.0

a moment which will go down in footballing and footwear history.

1:04.0

All of a sudden Germany was not just the bad guy, but they did something good for once,

1:10.0

you know, after the horrible war and it was great for Germany.

1:13.4

They were back on the map, let's put it this way, on the positive map.

1:17.2

That's Siggy Dazler, the daughter of Adi Dazler, the man who founded the Sport wear company, Adidas. He wasn't a footballer but he'd play a crucial

1:27.4

role in the 1954 World Cup final, designing the shoes worn by the winning West Germans.

1:34.0

Along with the players, Addy's footwear would prove to be a game changer for the team.

1:39.0

They'd win 3-2 against Hungary after being two-nill down at half time.

1:44.0

My dad was called in a newspaper,

1:46.0

The Shuster de Nacion, which is the shoemaker of the nation.

1:50.0

He was part of the title and everybody was just very happy.

1:53.7

The game became known as a miracle of burn because Hungary was the best team in the world at the time

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