Shoe Dog: Young Readers Edition

Bill Bowerman was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1911. After graduating from the University of Oregon, Bowerman became a teacher and coach and later served in the US Army, where he was the recipient of a Silver Star and four Bronze Stars during World War II. Upon being honorably discharged, he became the head track coach at Oregon in 1948. In his 24 years at Oregon, his teams won four NCAA titles and consisted of 51 All Americans and 31 Olympic athletes. In 1964, Bowerman became partners with his former runner, Phil Knight, as a co-founder of Blue Ribbon Sports and later Nike. While Blue Ribbon was importing shoes to distribute in the United States, Bowerman frequently helped Onitsuka design various types of running shoes. 

Jeff Johnson became Blue Ribbon’s first full-time employee in 1965. Knight originally offered Johnson a job the previous year when he was selling Adidas shoes on the weekend while in graduate school but was turned down. At first, Knight found Johnson’s enthusiasm and endless stream of letters off-putting but came to realize that he was largely responsible for the company’s early success. Johnson opened the company’s first retail store in California and later opened its second store on the East Coast. The name Nike was Johnson’s idea, which came to him in a dream the night before paperwork had to be filed with the US Patent Office. 

Penelope Parks was a student at Portland State University in 1968. On his first day as an assistant professor of accounting, Knight met Parks and was immediately impressed, so he offered her a job with Blue Ribbon. The two began dating and were married a year later, in September of 1968. 

Bob Woodell was hired as one of Blue Ribbon’s first full-time employees upon the recommendation of Bowerman in 1967. He had been a track standout under Bowerman in 1965 but was paralyzed from the waist down in an accident on campus. Woodell opened the company’s second retail store and became one of Knights most trusted confidants.

Geoff Hollister also became a full-time Blue Ribbon employee in 1967 upon the recommendation of Bowerman. Like Woodell, Hollister had also been one of Bowerman’s track athletes at Oregon. Knight hired him as a traveling salesman. 

John Bork was a high school track coach in Los Angeles who was hired in 1967 to replace Johnson in the Santa Monica retail store. His hiring caused a brief problem because Johnson did not yet know that he was going to be asked to relocate to the East Coast to open a store there. 

Steve Prefontaine was born in Oregon in 1951. He was an NCAA All American under Bill Bowerman at Oregon, where he won numerous championships and awards. Prefontaine competed in the 1972 Olympic Games but failed to medal and was training for the 1976 Games when he was tragically killed in an automobile accident. Knight alludes to Prefontaine several times relating to his running style and confidence, and in Chapter 11, he writes that Nike “resolved to be like Pre: resilient, courageous. We would fight. He would be our exemplar, our North Star” (235). 

Kitami was the export manager for Onitsuka when Knight returned to Japan to straighten out the issue of American distribution rights in 1966. Kitami agreed to give Knight exclusive distribution rights and a three-year contract but later became a problem for Blue Ribbon as he began to seek other American distributors to replace Blue Ribbon. When Knight decided to find other manufacturers, Kitami and Onitsuka filed a breach of contract lawsuit against him but lost in court.