In its second year as a sponsor for the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and the Cleveland basketball team have brought tire sculptures in the form of Cavaliers players to Quicken Loans Arena, the Cavs’ home court.
According to news site cleveland.com, one sculpture wears the blue emblem of the old Goodyear Wingfoots while the other wears a Cleveland jersey. The Cavs player is 7 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs about 215 pounds while the Wingfoots player stands 7 feet and weighs about 195 pounds, the site reported.
The sculptures mark the 100th anniversary of Goodyear’s involvement in basketball and the team’s opening season game Thursday night, reports the Akron Beacon Journal. In 1918, the tiremaker launched the Goodyear Wingfoots to test rubber in the soles of athletic shoes. The Wingfoots later became a founding member of the National Basketball League, the newspaper reports.
Last year, Goodyear and the Cavs signed a deal to add the Akron company’s Wingfoot logo to Cavs jerseys.