The Nike Story – I lived it!
After my college career running the mile, 5K and 10K, I was fortunate enough to get a contract from Nike to run on their elite racing team. I moved up to running the marathon. Nike treated us fabulously and of course every person on planet earth today knows the Nike name and the iconic “swoosh” brand.
But it wasn’t always that way.
No, not at all. It began with Oregon’s cross country team’s coach Bill Bowerman and his protégé the incredible Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine. The races were run on golf courses early in the morning on Saturdays. Coach Bowerman’s runners were frustrated that their running shoes were too slippery and had no traction. They could wear “spikes”, as we did on the track, but for traction on a wet golf course those spikes would have to be long, heavy and prone to causing falls.
So, the creative Coach Bowerman “borrowed” his wife’s waffle iron and went to the garage. He took a running shoe, placed it on the hot waffle iron and pulled down letting the sole heat among the iron’s “waffle.”
The next meet he handed each runner a pair of shoes with the traction of a waffle pattern and the first of ultimately millions of “Nike Waffle” running shoes were born. Along comes Phil Knight. He was a finance major on the team and consulted with his coach, privately, about a business proposition. They agreed to produce more, sell to other teams and even rent a warehouse. That was the literal beginning of Nike. 1973. Savvy finance major that Phil Knight was.
Less than a decade later Nike had surged to the number one running shoe company in the market and their advantage was growing.
I remember Nike flying all of us (and spouses - about 30 athletes) to the Sun River resort in Oregon (of course). Phil Knight met us outside one beautiful afternoon for a “chat”. We met on a grassy area and everyone simply sat down to hear the head of Nike give us an update. Phil had no shoes on, blue jeans, a white T shirt and black cowboy hat on, as he sat cross legged and began to speak.
Phil brought us up to date on everything Nike. Before the enjoyable session ended someone raised their hand and asked Phil if Nike would ever get into other sports, or just stay within the parameters of running and track & field. There was a silence in the group. We were all wanting to know that answer. We were purists and believed Nike was, as well.
Phil stood up and proclaimed unequivocally that “Nike would never branch out to others sports! Period.” There was a simultaneous long sigh of relief among us.
Ya, right. The rest is history. Think about this incredible, historic company’s humble beginnings the next time you eat a waffle…
It is these kinds of Companies that Provision Point Companies, LLC is interested in. Intuitive. The time is right. Natural demand. And making a positive difference for humankind.