When he was young, Dustin O. Canalin swears he saw Tim Hardaway pull up to an Alameda park in a brand-new Mercedes 500 SL convertible. The NBA star known for his killer crossover, the “UTEP Two Step,” made his way onto the court and proceeded to fire off dozens of jumpers while Canalin stared in awe.
“I’ll never forget that moment,” Canalin says. “I was nervous and nobody else was around. My older brothers never believed me, but Tim Hardaway was there.”
Canalin grew up loving basketball and playing baseball — the latter with future MLB stars Jimmy Rollins and Dontrelle Willis — but after eventually enrolling at California College of the Arts, he figured out his passion: designing athletic gear.