Randy “Kort King” basketball shoes from the late 1960s/early 70s. A gentlemen sent me these for grading and encasing a couple of months ago with the intention of preserving his great grandfathers legacy – his story: These shoes belonged to Seymour “Chick” Bromberg, who was born June 5, 1918 in New York, NY to Russian immigrant parents.

Chick was always very athletic- he was a star football player in high school, but he gained real recognition as a lacrosse player in the early 1930’s while playing for City College of New York. At CCNY, he majored in Physical Education and also played varsity football and basketball. He was named an All American Lacrosse Player for the CCNY Class of 1939. After college he served in the U.S. Army, rising to the rank of 2nd lieutenant during World War II. With his Phys Ed background, one of his primary tasks at Leyte was to watch after the general fitness of the soldiers on base, leading to him putting his education to good use keeping the men on base in fighting trim.
After the war he returned to Long Island and settled down with his wife Harriet he’d married while on a short leave from the war. He took up Sales as a profession, finding success just as he had in college, sports, and the military. Keeping with the Physical Education from college, he remained an active recreational athlete. These shoes come from his days in the late 60’s playing in local New York rec leagues and was an avid and enthusiastic golfer, both of which he played in up until a heart attack in his 60’s put an end to his athletic endeavors.

He was a lifelong basketball fan, even into his 90’s wearing an NBA cap nearly every day. He was an active member of the Basketball Fraternity, a South-Florida social group of Jewish athletes who played or were fans of basketball college or professionally. He passed away on Friday, May 22, 2015 at his home in Rock Tavern, NY less than a month shy of his 97th birthday.