The world's largest sports shoe and apparel company, Nike, came into existence on January 25, 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports, founded by William Bowerman, a US Olympic track & field coach, and Phil Knight, a mediocre middle distance runner.Bowerman's obsession with designing the perfect track & field shoe led him to design a protoype in 1958 for Knight. Two years later, at the 1960 Rome Olympics, that pair of shoes literally struck gold, with Otis Davis, the 400 metre gold medallist wearing the shoes borrowed from Knight.
Bowerman & Knight forged a 50:50 handshake partnership in 1964, called Blue Ribbon Sports - their chief business being importing and selling Japanese made shoes, based on Bowerman's designs. Three years later, in 1967, the company was incorporated as Nike, named after the Greek goddess of victory. It is today the most valued brand in sportwear industry, with the Nike brand valued at $29.6 billion.
The company could well have ended up being called Bengal, which was suggested by an employee. Other names considered were Dimension Six and Peregrine. However, as time was short - less than 24 hours before their first shipment was despatched - Knight reluctantly agreed to use the name Nike, even though he disliked it.
Nike today is a $34.35 billion company, with Nike branded shoes contributing more than 61 per cent to the revenues. The running shoes made by Nike alone contributed nearly $5.3 billion in revenue last year.
The Nike logo, known as the Swoosh, cost a mere $35, designed by Carolyn Davidson, an undergraduate graphic design student looking for extra funds for taking painting classes. It took her 17 hours 30 minutes to design the Swoosh - which was intially rejected by Knight. However, since Nike's deal with its Japanese manufacturer was coming apart, the company needed a logo for its branding.Nike's trademark - Just Do It - is said to have been inspired by the last words of convicted serial killer, Gary Gilmore, who said "let's do this", before his execution.
Nike, which has some of the biggest names in the world of sports endorse its products, first signed up Romanian tennis player Ilie Natase as its ambassador. The first track & field athlete to wear Nike shoes was US middle distance running legend, Steve Prefontaine, who was a star pupil of Bowerman.Nike also introduced the Air Jordan series, for legendary hoopster Michael Jordan, in 1984, which remains the only sportswear brand named after a living player.
Interestingly, the first Nike shoes, manufactured and distributed by the company itself, instead of being outsourced from their Japanese manufacturing partner Onitsuka, that featured the Swoosh, were football cleats and not track & field shoes. The first shoe went on sale on June 18, 1971.