Story of the World's #1 Running Shoe

When we started our tiny enterprise in 1983, we never expected our name to become a household word or make much of a splash out there in the world. We simply wanted to produce high quality running shoes out in the barn and earn a living from it. So, it was a huge surprise to us when Runner's World Magazine listed the Hersey Original third in its 1984 ratings, then the following year declared the Hersey Custom DPS to be the absolute best in both the men's and women's categories. We were completely shocked. So were the giant running shoe manufacturers. They put so much pressure on Runner's World and other publications that independently judged shoe ratings were quickly done away with forever.

Nowadays, very few people remember that most unlikely event, so just to prove it, we took the old magazine pages off the wall, gingerly removed them from their frames, and scanned them into our web site. (That's our little Hersey on Jaclyn Smith's foot.) The point is, an unknown cobbler way off in some place you've never heard of can make as good a shoe for you as a famous mass-production corporation can. Or, apparently, even better.

• Runner's World Cover Quality Image.
• Runner's World Rankings Page Quality Image.
• Runner's World Plaque.
• Announcement Letter.