22. Scott Bedbury

Scott Bedbury. Pause for the church bells to stop ringing and the cheering to stop.

I really thought that we were going to have some guy roll in with an entourage and maybe a body guard or two. We have heard so much about the great Scott Bedbury that I was caught off guard when he showed up in a pair of jeans and a button up. 

He kinda looked like my dad (if you ever read this Mr. Bedbury, my dad is handsome and funny and smart), just an average guy.  His talk was anything but average, and his book is even better. 

He talked about his work with Starbucks and Nike and his great relationship with Uncle Phil, and that work that he has done for those brands is/was amazing but what I liked the most was how he chatted with us after class.

He told funny stories about Air Jordans and the impressions they make on rural small town folk who have no idea what city slickers like Scott Bedbury are like.  That was great.  And he interacted, he and Joey from class had a nice little chat about the Air Jordan 5 series. They talked like they were buddies, like they had things in common-and they do.  Scott Bedbury, as great as he is, made it clear to all of us that day that he was just a regular guy. 

That made me feel connected to the industry. Scott Bedbury, the great Scott Bedbury, likes old school Nikes.  I like old school Nikes. 

All I'm saying, is that when you are sitting there before class, waiting to be slapped in the face by an industry celebrity and you end up leaving with the feeling that he would totally have a beer with you, it's pretty freaking rad.

I learned from Scott Bedbury that even the industry greats are just regular guys who like shoes and beer and strong coffee and that means that we have at least 3 things in commom.