Few logos in golf are as easy to recognise as Greg Norman's shark. It has been on polos, sweaters and jackets for more than three decades, and it is one of the logos we see most often when we go looking for vintage golf. This is where it came from.
The nickname
Greg Norman got his nickname at his first Masters, in 1981. He was leading after two rounds, and in the press room that evening he talked about growing up in Queensland, near the Great Barrier Reef, and diving with sharks. The next day the Atlanta Journal-Constitution called him the Great White Shark. The name stuck, and it was usually shortened to the Shark.
The player
The nickname fitted the way he played. Norman won the Open Championship twice, at Turnberry in 1986 and at Royal St George's in 1993, where he closed with a 64. He spent 331 weeks as world number one, second only to Tiger Woods. In the 80s and 90s he was one of the most recognisable figures in the game, not least because of the wide straw hat.
The logo
According to the Greg Norman Company's own timeline, the shark logo was created in 1991. A year later, Reebok launched the Greg Norman Collection, a clothing line built around the name and the logo. In Norman's own words, "we started the collection, designed the shark logo". He has also said that Reebok's owner Paul Fireman later gave the logo back to him and licensed it from him, and he has called the logo his greatest achievement.
The original logo was a multi-coloured shark. In 2016 it was redrawn as a single colour, slightly longer and sharper, with the Greg Norman name underneath. If the shark on a piece is in several colours, it is likely to come from before that change.
The clothes
The Greg Norman Collection started as golf apparel and grew into a wider line of men's sportswear. A shirt sold at auction as worn by Norman at the 1993 Doral Open is labelled Reebok and Greg Norman Collection, with the embroidered shark on the left chest. The line later passed from Reebok's owner Adidas to MacGregor Golf in 2006, and to the Tharanco Group in 2009. According to the brand's own site, it is still run from there.
The line has been made for more than thirty years, which is part of why Shark pieces still turn up so often.
In Drop 001
Two pieces in our first drop carry the shark: a windbreaker and a polo with a shark pattern. They open on 11.11 at 19:00 CET.
Sources
- GolfWRX, Greg Norman on his nickname
- The Open, Greg Norman
- The Golf News Net, weeks at world number one
- Golf Monthly, most stylish golfers of the 80s
- Greg Norman Company, timeline
- Haute Living, Greg Norman interview, 2019
- Pro Golf Weekly, the 2016 logo
- Grey Flannel Auctions, 1993 Doral Open shirt
- SGB, MacGregor completes acquisition
- SGB, sale to Tharanco
- Greg Norman Collection, About