ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9602010006
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: HAL SHEIKERZ STAFF WRITER
WHITE socks, pulled up just below the knee.
They're the first thing most people notice when they see Virginia Tech's Keefe Matthews on the basketball court. Kind of like a flashback to the Boston Celtics players in the 1970s.
"That's the way we wore them at home," Matthews says. "It just kind of represents where I'm from."
Back home in Mount Rainer, Md., Matthews played basketball at Northwestern High School with a team full of players in high socks.
But at Virginia Tech, the socks, called "seven-footers," stand out.
There's something else about Matthews that stands out when he's on the court.
His feet - they're big. Very big.
At 6'8 and 228 pounds, the junior forward/center on Tech's men's basketball team wears at least an extra, extra large shirt and pants with a 40-42 waist.
His shoe size is 151/2.
Matthews shares that shoe size with center Travis Jackson, who also is 6'8 and weighs 242 pounds.
The two of them have the largest feet on Tech's team.
"My age has been my shoe size from the time I was 11 ... it stopped when I turned 15," Matthews said. "I was always bigger than people, period. Feet, height ..."
Same with Jackson.
"His feet have always been big," said his mom, Pam Jackson. "But he needs the base for his height."
Travis Jackson said he first noticed his large shoe size in the 8th grade. "My feet were bigger even then, when compared to others," he said.
Which is OK.
After all, a basketball player's feet can have a significant influence on his career.
Just ask some of the big-timers: Bo knows and Michael has it - work endorsing a big athletic shoe company.
But Jackson and Matthews aren't looking to do any endorsements - at least not yet. Right now they are focusing on the Hokies' current record - 14-2 going into a game against UNC Greensboro Wednesday night - and a 13th ranking in the Associated Press.
"Now we've gotten the respect," Matthews said. "Now it's a point of keeping this rank and respect."
Matthews owns about 15 pairs of shoes: two pairs of dress shoes, a pair of boots and numerous tennis shoes, some for recreational use and others strictly for sports.
Jackson's closet also is stocked with about 15 pairs of various basketball and sport shoes, a couple of dress shoes and a couple of boots.
"Shoes have been difficult to find because most stores don't carry size 15," Pam Jackson said. "Sometimes he has to special order."
For Travis Jackson, big-and-tall catalogs are a way of life.
Matt Faulkner, store manger of Footlocker at New River Valley Mall, said his store carries all men's shoes up to size 13 and carries some shoes in size 15. He once had a pair in size 16. The average shoe size for men is 101/2 or 11.
"Many people come in with big feet," Faulkner said. However, he said that's only been typical of this Footlocker.
The National Sporting Goods Association reports that in 1994 Americans spent $438 million on tennis shoes - roughly 14.8 million pairs at an average price of $29.63.
Finding sport shoes has never been a big problem for Matthews and Jackson. But they had a hard time finding nice, dress shoes when they were growing up. They still do.
Matthews said that when he was younger he was "hesitant to walk into a store and ask for a shoe size 13 ... you get rejected a lot. You see a shoe you like and they don't have it."
Fortunately, Matthews and Jackson prefer sneakers.
Their favorite style?
Low-cut, black Nikes, which also is the most popular style at Faulkner's store.
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. 1. Travis Jackson, with his size 151/2by CNBshoes (right), is tied with Keef Matthews as Virginia Tech's
biggest-footed basketball player (ran on NRV-1). 2. DON
PETERSEN/Staff. It takes a big foot to fill this shoe: Virginia
Tech's Keefe Matthews laces up a size 15 1/2 at courtside (above).
ALAN KIM. 3. Mathews (inset, left) and 4. Travis Jackson (right)
share the honors as the Hokies' biggest bipeds. color.