Last week, it was revealed that Kanye West‘s 2008 Grammy-worn Air Yeezy 1 sneakers were purchased at an auction for a record bid. These ended up being the highest-purchased sneakers ever sold at an auction at $1.8 million. Now, the name of the buyer has officially been revealed and it is a former NFL player who has a very special meaning behind the massive purchase of the Yeezys and it dates back to the significance of the year, 2008.

Gerome Sapp ended up being the buyer of these Yeezys as he owns RARES, a sneaker investment app. He recently spoke with The Shade Room for why this purchase was made. Sapp retired from the NFL in 2008 and when he saw the Yeezys, he believed that they symbolized big things to come.

“The Nike Air Yeezy 1 prototype not only means a lot to the sneaker culture, but it meant a lot to me personally. I retired from the NFL in 2008 and was wondering what was next with my life. When I saw Kanye and Nike unveil these sneakers at the 2008 Grammys, aside from being dope, they represented a new age of independence, a beginning of something bigger to come.”

“That is exactly what RARES represents to my team and I now. So when the opportunity was presented to acquire this all-time favorite grail, I hopped on it. I felt that this 1 of 1 grail didn’t belong in a museum or a museum environment, it needed to be securitized and split into affordable shares so that anyone who loved these sneakers and the culture around what made these sneakers hot, could invest in them. One equity share at a time.”

Kanye was with Nike during that era but has been with Adidas for quite some time now. With this athletic brand, all of Kanye’s sneaker products, including slides, post huge numbers in sales. Just last week, his new Yeezy slides were available for $55 each in three different color ways, and they all sold out quickly. Kanye fans even took to social media to express how they weren’t able to grab a pair due to the high demand online. 

Kanye shocked the world at the top of the year as it was reported that he and Kim Kardashian were headed for divorce. Paperwork wasn’t officially filed until mid-February as Kim reportedly made that move. In January, she also hired high-profile divorce attorney, Laura Wasser, to help assist her in the divorce process. Both Kanye and Kim have also since agreed to filing for joint custody of their four children. Kim vouched for how great of a father that Kanye is.