Nike
History of Nike
Nike, who currently ranks as 136 in the fortune 500 for America’s largest corporations, has come a long way since its humble beginning of in the 1960’s. Founded by visionaries Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight who at the time had no clue how much of an impact this footwear would make in the marketing world. Bill Bowerman was a track and field coach at the University of Oregon with enormous amount of knowledge on athletics and was always looking to help his players maintain the advantage. “Bowerman's 24 years as coach at the University of Oregon, he developed many of the world's best distance and middle-distance runners, among them Steve Prefontaine and Alberto Salazar. He won four National Collegiate Athletic Association track and field championships, and he coached 44 all-Americans and 19 Olympians.”(cite) .
Here’s a little bit about the history of Bowerman’s family. “William Jay Bowerman Jr., a descendant of pioneers on the Oregon Trail in the 1840's, was born in Portland and raised in Fossil, a town in eastern Oregon, and in Medford. He was a quarter-miler and a football blocking back at the University of Oregon and was accepted to medical school after graduating in 1934. But he became the track and football coach at Medford High School instead and, after serving as an Army officer in Italy during World War II, embarked on his collegiate coaching career.
In 1949, Bowerman became the track coach at Oregon, where Bill Hayward established a formidable reputation as coach from 1904 until 1947. A man with a commanding presence, Bowerman seemingly overlooked no detail, even hand-crafting his athletes' shoes, as he built his own reputation.”
But Bowerman's footwear experiments brought a personal cost. Glue he used contained hexane, whose fumes permanently damaged his neurological system, leaving him with a limp and forcing him to wear a leg brace.
Bowerman coached the United States men's track team at the 1972 Olympics in Munich at which
Nike, who currently ranks as 136 in the fortune 500 for America’s largest corporations, has come a long way since its humble beginning of in the 1960’s. Founded by visionaries Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight who at the time had no clue how much of an impact this footwear would make in the marketing world. Bill Bowerman was a track and field coach at the University of Oregon with enormous amount of knowledge on athletics and was always looking to help his players maintain the advantage. “Bowerman's 24 years as coach at the University of Oregon, he developed many of the world's best distance and middle-distance runners, among them Steve Prefontaine and Alberto Salazar. He won four National Collegiate Athletic Association track and field championships, and he coached 44 all-Americans and 19 Olympians.”(cite) .
Here’s a little bit about the history of Bowerman’s family. “William Jay Bowerman Jr., a descendant of pioneers on the Oregon Trail in the 1840's, was born in Portland and raised in Fossil, a town in eastern Oregon, and in Medford. He was a quarter-miler and a football blocking back at the University of Oregon and was accepted to medical school after graduating in 1934. But he became the track and football coach at Medford High School instead and, after serving as an Army officer in Italy during World War II, embarked on his collegiate coaching career.
In 1949, Bowerman became the track coach at Oregon, where Bill Hayward established a formidable reputation as coach from 1904 until 1947. A man with a commanding presence, Bowerman seemingly overlooked no detail, even hand-crafting his athletes' shoes, as he built his own reputation.”
But Bowerman's footwear experiments brought a personal cost. Glue he used contained hexane, whose fumes permanently damaged his neurological system, leaving him with a limp and forcing him to wear a leg brace.
Bowerman coached the United States men's track team at the 1972 Olympics in Munich at which