Ch.1 History Of Nike

In 1950 A talented track & feild coach by the name of Bill Bowerman was seeking ways to give his athletes a better advantage . He met a man named Phil Knight they became bussiness partners selling sneakers for a japanise company called "Onisukas". While Knight was selling the sneakers "blue ribbons" out the trunk of his van Bowerman was ripping them apart trying to figure out how to make them lighter and more efficient for runners. They both had full time jobs and partnered a young man Jeff Johnson who became a full time partner of "Blue Ribbon" in 1965. Johnson created brochures, printads,& marketing materials, he even shot catalouges & established the mail order system. He then opened the first Blue Ribbon Sneakers (BRS) Retail store in St.Monica Cali managing shipping & reciving. On the side he began designing NIKE sneakers and came up with the name in 1971. BRS & Onisukas relationship were starting to fall apart. A young graphic design student named Carolyn Davidson at Portland State University created the "swoosh". NIKE footwear debuted in 1972 in time for the U.S track & feild trails. Steve Prefontalne was the first athlete to endorse and advertise the new NIKE line during his college years 1969-1973. He never lost a race in his hometown gaving Nike alot of publisity on the cover of magazines like Sports Illistrated. He finished 4th in the 1972 5,000 m in munich. He passed at the age of 24 in 1975. He was named the "Soul of NIKE". Thanks to the succesful launch of NIKE Air Technology in the tailwind running shoe in 1979 NIKE entered the 80's on a roll. By the end of 1980 NIKE became a publicly traded company. In the mid 1980s NIKE started to fall but quickly began to come up with the debut of a new shoe for a NBA Rookie "Micheal Jordan' in 1985. In 1987 NIKE created "Air Max" in 1988 the logo "Just Do It" was created and advirtised by Bo Jackson. In 1989 NIKE Reclaimed 1st place that was the first and last time the company in athlete footwear/apparel industry has accomplished such a feat. NIKE never relinquished that position again. November of 1990 Portland Oregon became the first home of "Niketown". In 1994 NIKE signed several individual players and in 1995 Nike signed the entire team and began designing NIKE uniforms. They also began signing men & woman soccor players as well as dozens of national teams around the world. In 1996 NIKE signed rookie Eldrick "Tiger" Woods for 5 million a year everyone laughed until he won the 1997 masters by a record 12 strokes noone laughing now. NIKE began investing in cycling including a young man well on his was who was diagnosed with cancer and lost a lot of sponsers but not NIKE in 1999 Lance Armstrong had an incredible comeback which resulted in the 1st of 7 consecutive tours de' france titles. NIKE came into the new millenum with NIKe shox which culminated over 15years of perserverance & dedication. Today NIKE has been comming up with new sneakers to make running better with sneakers such as NIKE free, NIKE +, & NIKE Sphere and much much more.