John Kim 
We continue our week of Air Penny classics by pointing to the most obscure of the Air Penny signature line – the Nike Air Penny IV. The relatively ‘overlooked’ nature of the Air Penny IV falls within reason; it arrived after Shaq broke up his exciting yet unfruitful partnership with Penny, who fell into a state of nagging injuries that proved to be invulnerable to recovery. Penny, quite frankly, was no longer the player he once was for a short four-season span, and once he was traded to Phoenix, he was no longer the same. It was understandable for Nike to seal the deal on the Air Penny and move on to bigger things with Gary Payton as well as Vince Carter and Shox Basketball, but the Air Penny line wasn’t completely dead; the Air Max Penny and Air Penny IV did in fact re-issue in the first half of the 2000s, and a much-celebrated return of the Air Foamposite One in 2007 proved to be the perfect resurrection of Penny into the most formidable Nike athlete he once was. Going back to the Penny IV – this original ‘Orlando’ colorway was never re-issued and stands as one of the most coveted of the Air Penny IV OGs, although a Retro release in 2013 could produce these once more. Check out this forgotten Air Penny below and stay tuned for more Classics Revisited: Nike Air Penny!
Nike Air Penny IV
Black/Varsity Royal-White
630347-041
1998
Photos: ivehademall on eBay
