Beat hundreds of thousands of entries.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Basketball superstar Lebron James has chosen Indian American youth Rahul Mamtora as the winner of a contest to design a graphic for a Nike t-shirt, which will be featured as part of the new Lebron James line-up being launched by the athletic company later this year.
The contest parameters said that participants must draw a t-shirt design that incorporated James’ current tagline: “Not One. Not Two. Not Given. Earned.” The phrase is a play on the vow that James said when he first announced that he was taking his talents to South Beach after his contract in Cleveland expired in 2010, promising the city that he and the “Big Three” – himself, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh – would win at least five Championships in Miami.
Mamtora,11, beat out hundreds of thousands of children from across the country, all of whom were between the ages of five and 12. As the winner, Mamtora and his parents, Paddy and Gargi, are getting an all-expenses-paid trip to Miami to meet James, where he plays for the city’s National Basketball Association (NBA) team, the Miami Heat. James is the current defending ‘Most Valuable Player’ for the NBA, and has led the Heat to victories in the last two consecutive NBA Finals.
Another perk from winning the contest is that Nike will donate $2,000-$3,000 worth of athletic equipment to Mamtora’s school, the Tom Matsumoto Elementary School in San Jose, California.
Mamtora’s shirt is already on sale from Nike, and can be bought for $30 on their website. It is scheduled to be released in Nike stores and other licensed retailers in a matter of weeks. Below is a video put out by Nike and Lebron James last month, announcing Mamtora as the winner of the contest:
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com