Dwyane Wade may be a global icon with a statue in Miami, three championship rings, and a lifetime contract with Li-Nin. But to the next generation of athletes, he might just be a regular dad doing drop-offs at a high school gym. During a recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, D-Wade shared a hilarious and humbling story about his growing influence beyond the hardwood. He’s unexpectedly a trendsetter in the volleyball world. The volleyball world just didn’t know it.

Li-Ning’s signature athlete usually plays it humble about his signature line, Way of Wade. He had a very emotional reaction to Stephen Curry wearing his sneaker in November. Whether it’s a legendary athlete or kid on the street, he’s shown nothing but gratitude to anyone who picks a WOW show. Yet a hilarious encounter with a gaggle of teens brought him back down to earth.

Wade told Jimmy Fallon about what happened when he attended a high school volleyball game. For those wondering why he’d be there, he was likely supporting his daughter, Zaya, who has a competitive volleyball athlete. While at the game, he noticed several young players sporting his signature Way of Wade sneakers.

Excited to see his brand’s representation in a different sport, Wade approached one of the athletes to offer his thanks. “I go to a high school game, and I see four girls wearing my shoes, and I’m like, ‘This is really cool,’” Wade told Fallon. “So I walk up to one of the girls and say, ‘Hey. Thank you so much for wearing my shoes.'”

He probably expected the girls to be cool, recognize him, maybe even talk about Zaya. But instead… “She looked at me like… stranger danger.” This was the point Fallon had to leave his desk to laugh it out in a corner.

At least D-Wade avoided drama. “She was like, ‘What shoes are you talking about?’ I was like, ‘Those on your feet.’ She was like, ‘I just like the color.’”

So we know it wasn’t even Zaya’s influence in the volleyball world that got those shoes popular. Neither was it Dwyane Wade’s stardom on the court that made his shoes the go-to hardware for volleyball players.

Dwyane Wade became an unexpected volleyball trendsetter

As humbling as that interaction could’ve been, the 13x All-Star laughed it off. He noted that the young player had no idea she was speaking to the man whose name was literally on her footwear. “She didn’t know they was mine!” Wade exclaimed, while Fallon joked that the youth of today simply sees him as a “stylish dude” rather than the Flash of the Miami Heat.

While D-Wade indeed established himself as one of the most fashionable trendsetters in the NBA world, he didn’t have to try to make a name in the volleyball business. For a while now, parents of student-athletes and competitive volleyball players have been reaching for the WOW sneaks on shelves.

Over the last two years, Wade’s footwear has become a viral sensation among volleyball players, who have found that the high-performance characteristics of the shoe like the WOW 808 3 and the WOW 10s, like lateral stability, extreme traction, and “bounce” translate perfectly to the needs of hitters and blockers. The online volleyball community has been vocal about its utility, aesthetic, and price point over the traditional brands like Asics or Mizuno.

On Fallon, Wade acknowledged this unexpected market shift with surprise. “My shoes have become, like, a volleyball shoe out of nowhere. Like, all the young ones, all the young girls that play volleyball are going out and buying these shoes. Their moms are buying these shoes.”

As Way of Wade continues to grow outside of a basketball and lifestyle shoe, its namesake remains grateful for the support from “the moms and the dads” who are buying the sneakers… even if the kids wearing them have to be told who he is.