BY ERIK HALL, JG-TC Staff Writer | Posted: Sunday, March 25, 2012 6:45 am

Ryan Hall and Danny Mackey poured their souls into running at Eastern Illinois University. Both earned multiple Ohio Valley Conference all-conference honors and won multiple OVC titles during their EIU careers.

Both tried running professionally after EIU, but since their running careers ended, Hall and Mackey have poured their souls into soles.

Hall and Mackey have both ascended to high positions at major shoe companies, and both recently took new positions with new companies.

Hall is now a Lead Brand Ambassador at ASICS, which is a job he began doing March 12.

Mackey is the Product Line Manager for Puma’s Running Line, a position he started March 15.

Hall and Mackey both earned bachelor’s degrees in education at EIU. Hall spent a year as a substitute teacher, and Mackey taught for a short time at Parkland College after getting his master’s at Colorado State.

But both found their interests and careers steered toward shoes.

“Obviously, I ran in college and really loved the sport,” Hall says. “Part of the interest was — I’m a sneaker head and I love footwear and the mechanics that go into it. To be on the inside and see what goes on with that and see how a shoe gets made and then to be able to get it in stores and on people’s feet is pretty cool.”

Mackey shares that desire to understand an item’s mechanics, and Mackey’s position allows him to improve the performance of Puma’s running shoes.

“I come from a background with master’s degrees in biomechanics and physiology, and I ran professionally for a little bit and my wife (Katie) still does, so I really like performance,” Mackey says. “I get geeked out on technical advancements and innovations, whether it’s cycling or cars. I really like pushing limits of performance … what kind of cool things does it do? That is where Puma wants to go.”

Selling in Chicago

Hall’s move to ASICS had been in the works for several months before his new position was finalized Feb. 28.

“I’d been talking to ASICS since December,” Hall says. “It was just a matter of them trying to budget together for the other six people and then finding time to get seven people out to California and the people already at ASICS available to go over things with us — H.R. (human resources) and x, y and z. It took quite awhile.”

Hall, a 1997 Mattoon High School graduate, spent his first week of work in Los Angeles. He had daily meetings from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. learning about ASICS footwear and marketing. Hall then spent Saturday, March 17, helping sell shoes at the Los Angeles Marathon, which is sponsored by ASICS.

He is now back in Chicago where he will work out of his home managing ASICS tech representatives across the country. He will mainly communicate with the tech reps via e-mail, but he will also be flying all over the country to check on them.

In addition to managing these ASICS reps, Hall will be focused on ASICS sales in the Chicago and Indianapolis areas. Hall says he will spend a few days a month in Indianapolis with most of his focus on Chicago.

“Chicago is a high priority,” Hall says. “There are a few areas of the country that are pretty high. Boulder, Colorado; Chicago; Boston; New York and Austin, Texas, are the big hot beds for running. Southern California is a pretty OK market, but Chicago is heavily focused on.”

Hall says three stores primarily make Chicago such a prime location for running shoes. Naperville Running Company, Fleet Feet Chicago and Dick Pond Athletics are all among the country’s premier places to buy running shoes.

Illinois’ running talent also makes the Chicago area an attractive place to sell running shoes.

“You get track and field indoor and outdoor and all year round. There’s Illinois cross country, which is one of most competitive in the country,” Hall says. “It’s a pretty big running scene here all year round.”

The job also keeps him not too far from his dad, Henry, who still lives in Mattoon.

Hall comes to ASICS after previously working for Adidas and Saucony. The job with ASICS is Hall’s first opportunity to manage people, which he saw as a benefit.

He also feels the ASICS product is among the top running shoes available. ASICS were the shoes he preferred wearing in college, and since Hall graduated from EIU in 2002, it has remained among the best.

“There are 10 major footwear brands, and everybody is making great products,” Hall says. “For the last 10 or 15 years, ASICS has been at the front or right near the front as far as controlling the market share and being the No. 1 brand. It’s been consistent. You know what you’re going to get for the most part every time. They also have new lines coming out every year that are pushing the boundaries a little bit. You get that safe shoe as well as something a little more edgy.”

Developing in Boston

ASICS has a reputation for producing premier running shoes.

Mackey moved to Boston with the task to get Puma to that place, too.

“I read an interview by the new CEO. They are going to make performance the forefront of their minds, and they’re going to focus on running,” Mackey says.

Franz Koch took over as Puma’s CEO in April 2011 with the aim to bring Puma’s sales closer to Nike and Adidas, according to a Wall Street Journal story from March 2011.

Nike and Adidas were the two places Mackey worked before joining Puma. He was at Nike for 3 1/2 years and Adidas for eight months.

Mackey’s job at Nike was innovation and research, and he sees Nike’s biggest strength being the contribution it gets from athletes. Mackey had the opportunity to work with Maria Sharapova to develop tennis shoes, and he was on teams that corresponded with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.

“Nike, in general, does such a good job of working with their athletes and getting their feedback to help with the product,” Mackey says. “They have their little tag on their stuff that says, ‘Designed to exact specifications of the world’s best athletes.’ That’s cool because that’s not a lie at all. … Nike, they really utilize athletes a lot. That’s probably why their product is so good.”

Mackey hopes to follow that model as Puma aims for its running shoes to be more geared toward performance than style.

“Athletes drive the product to be better,” Mackey says. “If we have a first run of shoes at Puma, the first thing I’m going to do is I’m going to put it on athletes. That is a lot of people. It’s going to be people running their first 5K, and it is going to be me going to get people that have made the Olympic trials to try this. … That is one of big things when I interviewed that I want to do and that Puma is going to be doing. I’m going to be traveling to Chicago, Seattle, L.A. and wherever making it better and making sure it’s fitting to what people and athletes want.”

It will be some time before you can buy shoes that Mackey influenced. Mackey says Puma is 80 to 90 percent done with its running shoes that will be released in 2013, and he will shortly start preparing the 2014 line of running shoes.

“It’s a dynamic position,” Mackey says of his new job’s responsibilities. “I work with the footwear developer and footwear designer to align the direction of each line to marketplace. I’m in charge of making sure every footwear product that we have is going to fill some sort of need in the marketplace so everyone is on the same page.”

Mackey, a 2004 EIU graduate, says the biggest thing that drives him is a desire to see kids racing in Puma shoes.

“You don’t see it much now,” Mackey says. “If I could see that in a year or two, it’d really motivate me to work harder.”

Shoes’ progression

Hall and Mackey have remained close since their time together as EIU roommates and teammates. The two communicate a couple times a week, and it is a surprise to them both the way shoes have progressed since they ran for the Panthers.

“It’s a lot more technical now,” Hall says. “I’m surprised I was never hurt when I ran in high school or college. (Former EIU cross country) Coach Mac (John McInerney) would find a shoe that he could buy with the budget and give them to us. After seeing what I can and can’t wear now, I’m kind of amazed.”

Mackey does not think it would take someone in the industry to identify the changes.

“The materials alone are so much more durable and lighter than 10 or 12 years ago,” Mackey says.

Finding new improvements to running shoes and spikes in the next 10 to 12 years is what Mackey is trying to do.

So is there much more that can change about running shoes and spikes?

“I hope so. My job would be really difficult if there’s not,” Mackey says. “I have a notebook of ideas. When I go to sleep, it’s laying there on our nightstand. When I wake up with an idea, I write it down. Who knows if it will work? I count on one of them working. They will change. People keep thinking of crazy stuff.”

And maybe the next crazy idea will come from an EIU graduate

Contact Hall at ehall@jg-tc.com or 238-6868.