STEPHEN CURRY REUNITES WITH RILEY MORRISON IN LAKE TAHOE
Steph's Under Armour line has become one of the most popular shoes amongst youth hoopers. In 2018, he released his fifth shoe with UA– the Curry 5's. At that time, the boots were only available in men's and boys' sizes. When nine-year-old Riley Morrison, at the time, saw that there were no shoes for young girls, she decided to take action into her own hands and pen a letter to Curry himself.
After the letter blew up on social media, Steph took note.
What was just a simple attempt to get a pair of her favorite player's shoes turned out to be much more significant– a new bond between Morrison and the Bay Area legend and the start of a new era with Curry's UA line.
Since the letter, Steph wanted to be sure that it was known that women and young girls were able to wear his shoes. But Curry and UA even pushed further with their push to include women in their releases.
Morrison was one of the first people to receive a pair of the first colorway of the Curry 6s, and she was also eventually able to help design one of them.
In a joint effort between Steph and Riley, the International Women's Day colorway was born later on after the launch of the Curry 6s. Since the colorway was released, it has consistently been one of the most popular colorways– flying off the shelves in a short time.
Since the Curry 6 release, the "United We Win" colorway has been released twice in the lines of the Curry 7s and Curry 8s. And now– on all of Steph's hoop shoes– they are listed as "unisex." The sizes all include men's and women's sizes for one pair. For youth players, the shoe sizes are listed as "grade school."
Over almost three years, Morrison and Curry reconnected this past weekend in Lake Tahoe for the first time since the collaboration for the "United We Win" colorway.
It's only fitting in their reunion as well that Riley is wearing the iconic "NIGHT. NIGHT." t-shirt to support her idol's championship win this past season.
Seeing this heartwarming story between Riley and Steph is just one of the many examples of how the two-time MVP has used his platform to push for the advancement and equality of women's sports.
In 2019, Curry personally invited both the Class of 2020 and 2021 number one recruits in girl's high school basketball, Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd, to his high school camp. Since the invite to the camp, Steph has kept close ties with Paige and Azzi. Fudd became the first athlete to sign with Curry's "SC30 Inc."– designed to help represent young athletes like Fudd through their NIL contracts.
He's built relationships and has become a mentor to other top female hoopers like Sabrina Ionescu– a Bay Area high school legend from Miramonte in Orinda and current Point Guard for the New York Liberty.
Then after thinking how he wouldn't have even been invited to his camp if he were in high school, Steph decided to launch the UNDERRATED Tour. The purpose is to help three-star recruits understand the recruiting process and to allow them the opportunity to be seen.
The UNDERRATED Tour has helped create over 30 high school boys and girls scholarships. After the basketball tour's success, Curry, this year, decided to extend it out to the golf course. Across different regions in the United States, the golf tour looks to find underrated young golfers and bring the best boys and girls from each area to San Francisco for the Curry Cup.
Last year, one of his most notable efforts in pushing for equality in women's sports. Steph and Ayesha introduced a collaboration with Curry's alma mater, Davidson, to establish a scholarship endowment that focuses on elevating women's athletics at the university. The goal of the endowment was to help close to 200 female athletes at Davidson immediately.
In an Instagram video, Steph details the motivation behind this push for equality in women's athletics because of the women in his life.
Curry has been highly vocal about his stances on the inequalities in men's and women's collegiate sports. During the 2021 bubbles for the NCAA Tournaments, Steph shared his opinion on the disparity between the resources in the men's and women's tournaments.
He's long been a supporter of the WNBA– wearing their gear, attending games, and being a voice across social media, constantly pushing for respect and equality.
While Curry's accomplishments on the court are the ones that most will remember him for, his accomplishments off the court serve the bigger purpose. Ones like his gender-neutral approach to his apparel, the endowment for women's athletics, and the non-stop support for women's athletics are the ones that will continue to make an impact for a lifetime ahead.
(Photo credit: TheWarriorsTalk)