Before the 1970 World Cup, Horst Dassler and his cousin, Armin Dassler who worked for Puma, both agreed to stay away from the Brazilian soccer star, Pelé. They both knew that they could lose a lot of money bidding on him so they made “the Pelé pact.” Armin Dassler approached the Brazilian team before the World Cup to make contracts with some of the players and at first avoided Pelé but couldn’t resist and eventually made a deal with him. When Horst found out he was furious and told him all agreements were off. I think Horst had every right to be angry and I know I would be too if someone broke a promise like that.

In 1956 Adi sent his son Horst Dassler to the Melbourne Olympics. Instead of trying to sell the athletes spikes, Horst had the idea that he could give spikes to the athletes for free to give the company publicity. This was during the time period when athletes were still supposed to be amateurs and weren’t supposed to accept money offers. Horst’s idea changed the sports business forever and other shoe companies started offering athletes money to wear their shoes. I think that it is very cool that Horst found a way to make money by giving things away and that his actions were the beginning of the end for amateurism in the Olympics.

One of Adi’s great inventions was adjustable soccer cleats that he invented for his friend Sepp Herberger before the start of the 1954 World Cup. Adi made these cleats so that soccer players would be able to screw different size studs in or out depending on the condition of the field. The German team made it to the final game of the 1954 World Cup and was up against the Hungarians who were favored heavily. During the game it had begun to rain so at halftime Adi changed the studs in the cleats to help the players get better traction. I think this was a great idea and it obviously was because Germany won the game that was later called the Miracle of Bern.

I thought it was very interesting how the two Dassler brothers named their separate companies after they split apart. Adi at first tried to name his company Addas but that was to similar to the name of German children’s shoe company name so he contracted his name and his last name to make Adidas. Rudi at first named his company Ruda but this name was this was thought of as clumsy and plump so he took another suggestion and then named it Puma instead. I thought it was cool that both brothers at first thought of naming their companies after themselves but then changed them a little bit.

One of the big points in the Dassler brothers’ lives was when they split in 1948. The split was caused by the two brothers feuding after Rudi returned from being arrested by the Americans. Much of the feuding was caused by Rudi being suspicious of Adi for tipping off the American forces. I think that Rudi was being slightly paranoid and that he shouldn’t have accused his own brother of turning him in. This split between the brothers also split their family apart. Their sister Marie supported Adi because Rudi had refused to hire her two sons, and their mother supported Rudi. I think it would be very difficult if I had been in that situation to choose between the two brothers.

One of the earliest ideas that Adi Dassler had was of making spiked shoes. Adi was very interested in sports and liked to tinker in his shed and come up with new ideas for sports shoes. Adi would make the shoes and then have his friend Fritz Zehlein who was a blacksmith make nails for Adi that he would then drive through the soles of the shoes. I think it is very cool that Adi made some of the earliest spikes and that so many track runners throughout the world have used spikes and have benefited from Adi’s brilliant invention.

When Adi Dassler started his small business in 1920 and began to makes shoes, he used scraps of material left over from World War One. Using leftovers like army utensils for tools and using strips of leather from army helmets for shoe soles he would go to his mothers former laundering shed and make his shoes. Because there was no electricity in the shed, he made a machine that was a leather trimmer attached to a bicycle frame so he could peddle to cut the leather. I think it is interesting that he went through all that trouble of scavenging for all those scraps just so he could make a couple pairs of shoes.