2. 2
Bill Bowerman a track and field coach at the University of Oregon and Phil Knight a student
on the team in the 1950’s eventually partnered to create an exceptional running shoe. After
receiving his degree in finance from Stanford University, the two men formed a company called
Blue Ribbon Sports in 1964 Phil made a call to the manufacturer of the Tiger Running shoes
located in Japan and was able to convince them to allow Blue Ribbon to become a distributors of
Tiger in the U.S.. As Phil sold the shoes out of the trunk of his car, Bill was taking them apart to
see how he could improve them as he would complete a prototype the members of the U of O
track team would test them for him.
It was through these humble beginnings that the Nike name was created by their first
employee Jeff Johnson in 1971 and Nike officially debuted in 1972. Today with its headquarters
in Beaverton, Oregon Nike is a leader in athletic footwear and apparel. Nike now employees
over 30,000 people in over 6 continents their subsidiaries includes Cole Haan, Converse Inc.,
Hurley International LLC, and Umbro Ltd.
(http://www.nikebiz.com/company_overview/history/1960s.html)
