NIke

4 Pages 911 Words

From 1948 to 1973 Bill Bowerman was the head track coach for The University of Oregon, in Eugene. He was also an Olympian and an Olympic track coach. These were only some of his small steps he had taken towards rewriting to scrip for the new generations of athletes.
In 1957, Phil Knight joined the University of Oregon track team as a middle-distance runner. Knight after receiving his degree in accounting from Oregon, he went to Stanford in hopes of an MBA. Soon after Knight graduated from Stanford he took a tour around the world. While traveling, Knight stopped in Japan to contact Onitsuka Tiger Company, who manufactures quality athletic shoes. His hopes were to convince them there were great marketing opportunities for their product in the United States.
Knight was able to persuade them to manufacture his athletic shoe by telling Onitsuka Tiger Co. he owns his own company, which he called Blue Ribbon Sports. Now all Knight needed was some help to market and finance the start up cost of the company. In 1962 he returned to Eugene, Oregon, home of his former track coach and at that time still the powerhouse of American track and field. Knight approached Bowerman with a business plan for bringing low-priced, high-technologic, athletic shoes from Japan and marketing it in the U.S. Knight’s hopes were to remove the German domination in the U.S. athletic footwear industry.
By early 1963 Bowerman and Knight formed a partnership under Blue Ribbon Sports. After each partner contributed $500 and shook hands, they started importing their Tiger shoes. Their first shipment of 200 shoes from Onitsuka Tiger Co. arrived in December of 1963.
Knight, who worked for an accounting firm, used his spare time to promotion and selling the Tiger Shoe. He early distribution efforts were to sell the shoe out of his parents’ basement and out of the back of his car at local and regional track meets. Pretty soon, shoes from Blue Ribbon S...