adidas Stan Smith Lux 'Stingray'. Set to release March 2011.

Dime: There’s a new spring edition coming out and it looks like adidas is doing something new with the shoe. What can you tell me about that?
SS: I was just in China a couple of weeks ago with my daughter Austin and they had a shoe there with Zebra skin that’s coming out this year in China. I saw a stingray pattern one as well. I hadn’t really seen that before, so that’s going to be neat. Then they had one that was all baby blue suede that Austin would probably like to get because it was Tar Heel colors.

Dime: I read that you played on a very good Pasadena High basketball team before quitting in your senior year to focus more on tennis. Tell me a little bit about your playing days? At 6-4, what position did you play and how good were you?
SS: Well we had a good team. I played for about half of my senior year and I was a guard because we had a 6-9, 6-7 and a 6-4 player who was a good rebounder. Then we had a guard who was 5-10 and I was the other guard at 6-4. One of them played four years at USC, first string for two years. The other guy was the sixth man on the UCLA team that Jabbar (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) was on. Another guy played for a good small college, so it was a pretty solid team. At that point though, I realized tennis was my sport.

Dime: You were born and raised in Pasadena, Calif., and went to USC where you were a three time All-American. Were you a Lakers fan? Did you know any of the players in the NBA?
SS: When I was growing up, I would pretend like I was Elgin Baylor and Jerry West when playing. The Lakers were big then and of course their teams were great at that time. They’ve been great really from that point forward. I’ve been a Laker fan ever since childhood.

One guy that I got to know a little bit was Wilt Chamberlain. He was a real tennis fan, he loved tennis. Rick Barry, I got to know pretty well because he got involved in tennis. I played with him a few times. Earl Monroe with the Knicks was also a tennis fan. I usually met them because of their interest in tennis.

Dime: You’ve had kids at both North Carolina and Duke. Who’s your favorite college basketball team?
SS: Duke has been my favorite team because of my involvement with the Duke Children’s Classic fundraiser, knowing Coach K and my son going to Duke. Dick Vitale came and would umpire a match while Coach K would play college coaches from the North Carolina area. My son is now the head coach of the Men’s Tennis team at Duke. My other son who went to Princeton seems to like Duke Basketball almost more than my son who’s a coach there. When Austin went to UNC I had to change my attitude a little bit, but when they’re playing each other, I kind of go for Duke. When Carolina is playing anybody else I go for Carolina.

Dime: That hurts me a little being a Carolina grad, but I guess that’s fair. (laughs) Who do you think is going to win it all in the NBA this year?
SS: I really think it’s between the Lakers, the Celtics, and the Heat. Possibly the Magic, they’ve got the ability as well. I was in Boston for the second game of the Finals three years ago when it was Lakers-Celtics. Boston won it all that year and they won that game. They had “Beat The Lakers” t-shirts in all the seats in the whole stadium.

Dime: What did you do with yours?
SS: I threw it away (laughs).

Dime: Now you reside in Hilton Head, S.C. What are you doing with your time these days?
SS: I have a tennis academy with my partner Billy Stearns here in Hilton Head. I also have a company called Stan Smith Events. We help corporations entertain their clients at major events. Not only the four Grand Slams, but the Olympics, the Rugby World Cup, the FIFA World Cup, sometimes the Final Four and sometimes the Super Bowl.

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