It's hard to imagine that Paul Fireman has much in common with Allen Iverson. Fireman is the fleshy 57-year-old entrepreneur who plays golf and goes deep-sea fishing in what spare time he has. Iverson is the prince of the National Basketball Association, a coiled, 6-ft.-tall 26-year-old who spends his spare time playing video games and barking out gangsta rap music.
The common cause is Reebok International Ltd., Fireman's shoe company, for which Iverson happens to be top pitchman. And the combination is just one reason why Reebok, written off two years ago as a dead maker of fad sneakers, is...