The Starbury Big Ben signature shoe

Chicago Bulls All Star power forward Ben Wallace recently did a signing session in a Florida shopping mall to promote his new Big Ben shoe.

Big Ben talked about what's in his heart, about his tough childhood, about the difficulties for kids and mothers today. The kind of thing many of the general public crave for from contemporary sports heroes, a sign that they're accepting the responsibility of their fame.

Late last season Wallace started wearing the Starbury II shoes, named after Stephon Marbury and produced and sold by USA discount retail store chain Steve & Barry's. His own Big Ben shoe line has just been launched and Wallace will be wearing them in NBA games this season.

The shoes cost $14.98.

Marbury has already gained a lot of positive press for selling and wearing his Marbury sneakers. One of the most vocal fans of the shoes has been Mark Cuban:

"There aren't many things we will do in our lives that will have an impact on culture and social change. To be able to send a message to kids and sell millions of shoes so the message gets through saying, save that extra $85 and buy your kid a guitar or some clothes. That is huge.

You can look at NBA Cares all you want. You can look at the things I've done for charity all you want. The NBA has never done anything as impactful as what Marbury has done."

Marbury recruited fellow NBA star Wallace to join his movement to change America's mind that "cool" has to equal "expensive." A Steve and Barry’s statement read:

“The Starbury line is revolutionizing the sneaker industry each $14.98 sneaker at a time. Of course that fashion aspect of the line is that we have really cool sneakers for men, women and kids that retail really cheap and are still considered cool among the sneakerheads of the world. Ben Wallace has joined the Starbury team as he believes as strongly in this "social movement" as Steph does.

It's possible this movement -- and that's what Wallace and Marbury have called it -- goes nowhere. But there is status in their names. And it helps that they actually wear the shoes in games.