In this video, Vick Almighty tackles a truly rare restoration of the trainer and baseball cleat versions of the Nike Air 24 Diamond, part of Deion Sanders’ iconic Diamond Turf signature line.
As one of the greatest dual-sport athletes of all time, Sanders needed a pair of shoes to perform on the football field and a baseball diamond. Nike delivered with the Diamond Turf line, designed to handle the demands of both sports.
The Nike Air 24 Diamond is a rare, lesser-known member of the Diamond Turf line, making this restoration an extraordinary project. Finding either the trainer or the cleat version of these shoes is next to impossible — let alone owning both. This set is a true holy grail for sneaker collectors and fans of Prime Time.
Given their 30-year age, these shoes required extensive restoration. Vick had to address significant challenges, including sole separation, cracking on the uppers, and paint chipping. However, the most difficult issue was a hole burned through the bottom of the cleat’s forefoot, leaving a mark on the toebox.
But if anyone’s up for the task, it’s Vick Almighty.
Vick began by deconstructing both pairs, carefully using Reshoevn8r’s Soft Brush and Medium Brush to clean the fragile surfaces without causing further damage. Next, he worked his magic with the all-new Reshoevn8r x Oxi Clean Foam Cleaner to restore the sneakers to their former glory. While the trainer was restored and re-glued, the cleat required some extra creativity. Vick sourced a similar ’90s baseball cleat on eBay to replace the damaged outsole, saving the project.
Although these restored pairs are now strictly for display (any step would cause immediate crumbling), they are a tribute to the legendary Deion Sanders and his signature line.
Would you like to see Nike retro the Air 24 Diamond? In the comments, let us know which classic ’90s sneakers Vick should restore next. Don’t forget to use code “PrimeTime20” to save 20% on all Reshoevn8r products, available for the next 24 hours!
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What's up everybody I'm Beck Almighty And today it's Prime Time on my table Are two of the rarest sneakers I've ever Seen before and they both belong to Dion Sanders back in 1994 during its baseball Days with the Cincinnati Reds these Right here are the air 24 diamonds on This shoe right here it got a diamond Turf upper with a regular cleat sole on This side over here is a shoe that I Didn't even know existed the same exact Shoe with the same upper but with a Regular trainer Soul extremely rare very Fragile for their age they're falling Apart their beat they need some work This project is going to be big so let's Get Started both of these shoes are about 30 Years old they're extremely Fragile the Uppers contain durable material there's Cracking all around there's scuffs There's really nothing you could do About that when I'm working with the Shoe I'm going to have to be very Careful and not Flex it too much cuz That will cause more damage on the Trainers these were worn as you can see There's a lot of yellowing going on on The midsole specifically on the white It's cracking that's got to get Repainted separation this one's even Worse upper mid Sole and so over here on The cleat version this one isn't too bad There is separation going on however I
Saved the worst one for last this one is Going to need a lot of work it's fully Separated the bottom of the sole has an Unexplainable burnt hole that's got to Get replaced I don't know the story There something crazy must have happened It damaged the upper as well not too bad But the toe boox got burned as well Again these shoes are 30 years old There's only so much I could do with These materials that are breaking down The idea for this restur restation is Presentation let's get to work with [Music] Deconstruction Dion Sanders famously Known as prime time is a legendary dual Sport athlete excelling in both the NFL And MLB a two-time Super Bowl champion Hall of Fame cornerback and the only Athlete to play both in a Super Bowl and A World Series Sanders impact reaches Far beyond the field after retiring he Became a successful Sports commentator And now leads the University of Colorado Football team as head coach off the Field his Nike Air Diamond Turf sneakers Became iconic in the 9s lending both Style and performance solidifying Dion As one of the most iconic figures in Sports history with these two pairs I Really don't know where to start but we Got to start somewhere I think I'm going To focus on this pair first I'm going to Get the uppers out the way and just
Focus on the souls and the mids Souls The souls are worn down we do need to Clean them up same thing with the mols They're dirty and we got to wipe off all The paint I got to be very careful with The sole it's in terrible condition if I Try to flex it there's a good chance It'll crumble and crack in different Pieces on this side that's starting to Happen right here I'm going to put some Glue down later on to put it back Together but this shoe is in fragile Condition so during the cleaning I'm Going to scrub very lightly to get this Dirt off and then we'll put them in the Indoor setup but first I'm going to go Next door dry brush the soles and the Midsoles use the compressor to get all The debris off All right let's get on to some prep work I'm going to be using some anone and Coton balls to wipe off all the old glue And red durug material on the midols and The outs with the heat gun as well Same thing I did with the SS I'm doing To the midsoles I got to get all the O Glue off same thing with the red Durabook this one's a bit more Messier I'm also going to be wiping off all the Cracked white paint when I'm applying Heat to the midsole to remove all the Old glue I can't apply too much cuz it Can shrink the midsole and there's no Going back from that
On to the cleaning we got to get these Outsoles as clean as possible as you can See all over the crevices there's a Bunch of dirt I am going to be using the Brass P so brush it should do the trick The only thing is I'm going to screw up Hard but not too hard to where I can Cause more damage like this crack and Then I'll be using the medium brist Brush for the mols let's squ some Solution into our bowl of water to get It going [Music] [Music] Sols look great now I'm just going to be Using the medium bristle brush for the Mid [Music] Soles cleaning is complete for now let's Go ahead and go to the thing rinse Everything and let it dry [Music] All right these are fully dried next we Got to get some of this yellowing off I Don't want to get them back to brand new White I'm going to stick them in there As is take them out tomorrow morning and See how they look let's put them in the Vic 2000 All right while the sols are in the v 2000 let's get to work on the uppers There's a lot of prepwork needed before We start gluing on the sols there was a Lot of red chunks from the durug
Material you can see some of the missing Chunks on the uppers all of the red Durug material that's still on the Uppers needs to come off if I don't and I lay down glue over that and bond it Onto the new so all of this is going to Peel off and the bond will be no good so I'm going to be using a blade to shave All of that off the key is to not mess Up the uppers the uppers are very Fragile in some areas there's already a Lot of peeling going on so it may not be Perfect in some [Music] Areas you guys hear that And these two pods are broken down air Units if these shoes were going to be Worn again I would go in cut it open and Replace them however these are just Going to be for presentation purposes so We're going to leave that as is I do Need to lay down some white paint so I'm Going to tape off everything to airbrush The White got everything covered up the tape Drop isn't exactly perfect once I lay Down the white I'll go in with some Black paint to make the lines all crispy Let's airbrush the white paint [Music] White paint looks nice and solid only Took about five coats now I'm going to Go ahead and take off the tape to get Ready to lay down some glue I'll come
Back to the touch-ups later I'm going to Lay down some glue on the top portion And bottom portion of the mle to start Putting the shoe back Together I'm going to be using bar super Stick for the glue job as always I'm Going to lay down a thin coat all around Let it cure for a couple hours and then We'll stick everything together I'm also Going to be laying down glue on the Outsoles Glue is fully cured I already did one Off camera everything lined up nicely The thing is I got to be a lot more Gentle with this outsole I can't really Flex it and on this one specifically I Got to fill in the crack let's heat it Up [Music] Now I'm going to do some touch-ups using Some andel's flat black paint with an Angular brush the trick is to make these Lines nice and sharp We're back to the uppers skying is Complete let's lay down some glue same Thing I did with the missil and the Soles will lay down a thin coat all Around the trick is to not get any glue On the upper area typically I try to Avoid it anyways but on this shoe the Durb is cracking so I don't want to get Any on there I'm going lay it all down Let it here for a couple hours again and Then stick everything together
At the moment the glue is not tacking it All it's fully cured ready to go I'm Going to heat it up to get it nice and Tacky again so we can stick everything Together I'm going to start with the toe Box make sure it's lined up properly Jump to the back then do the sides I Want to be very careful with the uppers I can't apply too much pressure cuz more Cracking will happen to the durab Material [Music] Glue job is fully complete on this pair That part's out the way all that's Really left to do is to clean up the Uppers and do some paint touch-ups but I'll do that later let's Focus on the second pair this pair is Trouble for the most part the right shoe Isn't too bad it has similar issues to The first pair the uppers are the exact Same thing they're dirty and they're Cracking there's separation as well I Got to go in like the first time using a Blade remove all the material and with Some aone clean up the sole to get it Ready for the glue job this one over Here I'm not even sure what I'm going to Do off camera before I even started this Project I was starting to mess around With it I'll show you guys the main Issue first the bottom of the sole Something happened at some point the These were in a fire there's really no
Story behind it on the sole there's a Huge burn crater you can s your finger Through the sole into the Upper on the upper itself there is some Burn marks the real issue is a sole we Want to get that swapped so the only way To remove the upper from the sole was by Slicing the upper typically you don't Want to do it this way but the reason Why I did it is because all around the Edges there's rivets on the lasting Board there's rivets that are connecting To the sole they're really close to the Edge there's one two three four five six Seven eight eight of them that would Have took forever to take off without Damaging the uppers so the idea is to Finish removing all this stuff at some Point I am going to remove this part of The sole and replace it with another Piece I just don't know how I'm going to Do it yet I'm still trying to figure it Out I'm just going to do what I know how To do and that's some prep work I'm Going to grab the blade and do some Skying on both shoes and we'll figure it Out from there Skying is complete now we're on to the Real issue honestly there isn't much of A real fix I can do for this home and There isn't any donors in the market That I could just replace this with it's Nearly impossible to find an exact donor So I went on eBay typed in 1994 Nike
Baseball cleat very generic I wasn't Expecting to find anything but I did Come across this shoe right here it is a Cleat it's not the exact same the upper Is different same thing with the mle but The sole is the exact same I got Extremely lucky with this find I got it For like 40 bucks this shoe is a size n Way smaller than this cleat but after Measuring it up the top portion is the Exact same So the plan is to create a Clean slice right around this area Remove this top half replace it with This clean top half I do got to do some Painting but that should be really easy The hard part is removing all the rivets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 that's a ton of work so I'm going to do the exact same thing I Did with this one over here I'm going to Grab a clean blade slice right at the Edge of the sole and then go from there [Music] [Music] Only 50,000 to go [Music] An hour and a half later and a bloody Finger we almost got the upper off all That has to do is pull this piece off Same thing over here then we go to the Laser engraver room meet Christian over There to do a clean Slice on both [Applause] Pieces shout out to my dad for letting Me steal his
Tools ladies and gentlemen Christian What's up guys so before we get started I want to let you guys know a fun fact About me my dad wanted to name me Dion Sanders but obviously it's Christian so Didn't happen let's get to work Dion Let's do It did it Work it worked [Music] [Music] That looks Good Christian and the laser engraver Did a great job of removing the old part Of the original sole it's a perfect Slice same thing for the new part off Camera I already went ahead and painted This piece and replace the rivets this Is the before and this is the after Big difference now the problem is this Piece is a little bit too small compared To the original this is a size N9 this Is a 10 and 1/2 so it makes sense it was Hard to tell when the sole was still Intact now that it's in pieces you can Clearly see that it doesn't fit I'm Going to show you guys real Quick the new part over here on the left Over here on this side there's a huge Gap it simply doesn't line up so we're Going now to do some finessing I already Applied glue to both parts I also got a Piece of plastic that I cut off from a Rejuvenator
Bowl I got like 50 of those what I'm Going to do now is stick this onto this Part leave a gap and then stick this Piece on Top that should make it the size I Needed and kind of make it more flush on Each side but we're going to have a big Old Gap in the middle we're going to Have to fill it in with something for Now let's worry about this the glue's Been applied I'm going to heat Everything up and stick everything Together first piece is attached real Quick I got to get this out the way I Got the mitole and the sole I'm going to Stick both of these parts together Glue's been applied I'm going to make Sure everything lines up properly once It's attached I'm going to get the other Two rivets and place them right here [Music] Now to make it easier to fill in I'm Going to add another piece of of plastic To fill in the Gap everything's taped up let's go ahead And lay down some Flex paste it's Basically a rubberized paste once it Fully dries it'll become solid the trick Is to get it nice and even already taped Around it I'm going to use a spatula to Lay it down hopefully on this first coat I can get it nice and even Good to go with this Frankenstein fix It's took a little bit of time to get it
To this point a lot of finessing I had To lay down a couple of Coates to the Flex paste to get it to this point same Thing with the edges I got a nice and Flush with the rest of the sole on the Inside part I laid down a couple of Pieces of plastic to make sure it's nice And sturdy the shoe is not meant to be Worn at all if anybody puts their foot Inside this piece will completely snap It's meant for presentation purposes Only now the glue's been applied onto The sole and the upper this part is Going to be a little bit tricky I Shouldn't have any issues with the back Half the front half I don't have too Much to work with I basically only have A couple of millimeters of the material To glue onto the sole if I take my time Everything should line up nicely [Music] All right I think we're done with that Process it's not exactly perfect but I'm Really happy with it it's shut closed You can't even tell there was a nasty Hole In The Middle With The Missing Clean now moving on to the uppers we got To do a quick clean for this I'm going To be using our brand new sneaker foam Cleaner I'm going to apply it directly Onto the shoe I don't want to do any Brushing with the brushes cuz that's Going to scrape off the material I'm Just going to go ahead and Pat it down
Dry as I Go foam cleaner did a good job cleaning Up the sneaker the red looks a lot Brighter it's not as dull now I still Got to go in and do some paint touch-ups All around the sneaker I'm not trying to Make it look perfect but I'm definitely Trying to make it more presentable and Eliminate some of these deep cracks for The gray simple mix I just got some Light gray with a couple of drops of Light blue to get this mix as you can See it's not as gray it has a blue tint To it for the red I just mix some red With a little bit of magenta I'm just Going to go in with the paintbrush and Do some touchups all around the bigger Cracking all right guys I'm finally done With this restoration this one took so Long to get it to this point usually Usually I don't like working on these Type of sneakers where they're just Falling apart use and beat up but in This case this one's different these Shoes are extremely rare you never see These together you never see these Period at all there isn't too much Information on these online they even Come with the original gloves that Dion Wore at one point right here it has the Exact same logo as the tongue on both Sneakers it's extremely rare to see all Three of these together like I mentioned Both of these sneakers are player
Exclusives at one point they did belong To Dion Sanders now I did find a quote From the original designer Tracy Teague He gives some information and shines Some light on these sneakers check this Out regarding the air 24 Diamond that Was the last shoe I did for Dion as most Signature athletes go Prime had kind of Run his course he had become difficult To work with brand marketing and saw his Upside much differently than Nike upper Management did regardless of the Dynamics the air 24 Diamond was designed As a cleat only I probably designed a Trainer version but quite frankly I Don't remember well let me remind you You did the main feature was the lace Cover containment strap the UN like to Be locked in so this was a different way To lock him down made a badass looking Cleat and he loved it don't think we Ever made a football version we made red Ones while he was with Cincinnati There's pcks around of him wearing them The shoe went for retail for the eite Catalog but we didn't sell that many It's a rare pair for sure when he went To the Giants we made a DT Max cleat all The timing around this is pretty hazy This is directly from Tracy Teague he Was designer 49 as far as the Restoration goes both of these sneakers Did the exact same thing I did a lot of Work on the uppers to get it to this
Point the foam cleaner brought back the Vibr Then with some paint touch-ups we Covered up all the scuffs on the red and The gray we did a lot of prep on the Solos and the mids solos to get it ready For your glue job this some painting on The turf pair this pair over here one of Them was okay the second one this one Was trouble I spent so much time to get It to this point a lot of finessing this Was a Frankenstein restoration and Honestly I'm pretty proud of it it's Almost to the point where you can't tell Anything happened these are ready to be Displayed again this is one of those Projects that I'm just really happy to Be done with but I'm extremely proud on How they turned out as always you guys You can find all our products at rat.com Use promo code Prime Time 20 to save 20% Off for the next 24 hours this is Vic Almighty I'll catch you guys on Monday See you guys
