Knight Floating on Nike Air

by Doug Banker

Of the many perks that go with the job as the CEO of Nike, Phil Knight admits that working with high profile athletes such as Michael Jordan on their signature shoes, really floats his boat. Professional athletes who have signature shoes manufactured by Nike, are encouraged to have design input. One athlete who takes a strong interest in the design of his shoe is golfer Tiger Woods. According to Mr. Knight, Woods is meticulously specific about the exact measurements of his shoe. He is concerned with the precise millimeter of the height of the spike off the ground. It is this aspect of the multi-billion dollar Nike business that best reminds Mr. Knight of Nike's early days, when as a runner for the University of Oregon in Eugene, he imagined how much faster he could run if only there was a lighter running shoe.

Air Jordan's, Nike Air Max, Nike Air Tuned Air are just some of the easily recognizable styles that stemmed from Tiger shoes, a Japanese import, that Nike founders, Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight sold out of the trunk of a car. Nearly two years after that, they decided to start their own shoe company called Nike, which is Greek for 'victory.'; Their first shoe was the Air Cortez, which is still in production.

The inspiration for Nike came from a passion for running, an education in small business management from Stanford University, and a great partner who had perfect insight. Knight met Bill Bowerman at the University of Oregon, where Mr. Bowerman was the coach of the track team. "It was a good track team, however, I was not the best runner," he admitted in a telephone interview. He recalled how his coach would constantly preach about how shoes needed to be lighter and supply more mid sole cushioning so that running would be easier on the feet and the legs. Afterall, his coach argued, the shoes a runner wears is really the one piece of equipment that matters. This was novel thinking.