Phil Knight, founder of Nike, celebrates his 86th birthday on February 24. Knight is perhaps the biggest name in the sneaker world. In 1964, he and Bill Bowerman started 'Blue Ribbon Sports,' a brand that would be renamed 'Nike' a few years later. Knight's mentality and perseverance brought him much, read his story here.
Blue Ribbon Sports
On February 24, 1938, Phil Knight was born in Portland, Oregon. He grew up in the Eastmoreland neighborhood and attended Cleveland High School. Since childhood, Phil has been interested in sports.
Phil continued his business education at the University of Oregon, where he ran for the Oregon team under the training of Bill Bowerman, who would later become his business partner.
Knight was good at his sport. After breaking several records in college, he started the 'Athletics West' running team with Geoff Hollister and Bill Bowerman. After getting his paper and serving in the Army for a year, Knight continued his education at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he began focusing on the industry of sneakers.
During his time at Stanford, Knight kept his lines of communication short with Bowerman. After graduating from Stanford, Knight left for Japan to source athletic shoes here. He struck a deal with Onitsuka, now known as ASICS.
Upon returning to Oregon, he went to Bowerman for advice and feedback on the purchased sneakers. A meeting that would subsequently result in the creation of Blue Ribbon Sports.
Read all about Knight's Blue Ribbon Sports here.
Nike founding
Knight and Bowerman were the perfect duo. Knight had the mentality of a salesman and knew how to close deals like no other. Bowerman coached athletes for the Olympics at the time and possessed great knowledge regarding running and appropriate athletic shoes.
In 1972, a few years after BRS was founded, the brand received its current name: Nike.
The name Nike comes from the Greek Goddess 'Nike,' the goddess for victory "in war and peaceful competition." The well-known Swoosh logo came about in 1971 and was designed by student Carolyn Davidson for a mere $35.
The Swoosh would years later become the most iconic and recognizable logo in the world. Consequently, years later Davidson received ample(er) compensation for her work on the logo.
After the founding of Nike, things went fast. Knight met athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods with whom he then entered into various collaborations. In particular, the million-dollar deal with Jordan was an important one for the brand and resulted in the Air Jordan line.
Businessman
Once Nike was running well, Knight was looking for a new challenge. In the late 1990s, the Nike founder invested in Will Vinton, a stop-motion film production, and bought 15% of the shares.
One of his sons, Travis, also later joined the production as an animator and achieved great success with the film Caroline. Under Knight's leadership, the company was given its current name; Laika.
In addition to his investment in Laika, Knight also invested in other labels - from clothing and sports brands, to charity projects. His hard work and sometimes somewhat headstrong ways resulted in a fortune of more than $45 billion over the past few decades (Forbes, 2024).
In 2004, when Knight's son Matthew died suddenly from cardiac arrest in El Salvador at the age of 34, Knight stepped down as Nike's CEO. He retained his position as Chairman until 2015. In June 2015, Nike and Knight announced his resignation. Fellow CEO Mark Parker would take over from him.
'Shoe Dog'
In 2016, his resignation went into effect. This same year, Knight released his autobiography 'Shoe Dog', a book in which he tells his story of starting Nike. The book is a holy grail for many sneaker lovers. Several million copies have been sold worldwide, and for good reason.
Although Knight has not been active at Nike for some time, he will always be the person linked to Nike. Knight turns 86 today.