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Nike Inc. Company Timeline: 50 Years of Innovation
Jean E. Palmieri
11 min read

In This Article:

1962

Phil Knight visits Onitsuka Tiger in Kobe, Japan, and pitches the idea of selling their shoes in the U.S. When asked the name of his company, Knight comes up with one on the spot: Blue Ribbon Sports, a reference to his childhood track and field ribbons.

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1967

Jeff Johnson, who ran track with Knight during his graduate studies at Stanford University, opens the first Blue Ribbon Sports retail outlet in Santa Monica, Calif. Johnson was Blue Ribbon’s first employee, joining the company as a part-time salesman two years before opening the shop, which was thought to be the only specialty running store in the U.S. at the time.

1971

Carolyn Davidson designs the “Swoosh” trademark. Davidson, a graphic design student from Portland State, created the checkmark-shaped logo, first called the “Stripe,” in preparation for the launch of Blue Ribbon Sports’ first branded footwear after Knight has a falling out with Onitsuka. She was paid $35.

Bill Bowerman creates the famous waffle outsole design by pouring liquid rubber compound into a waffle iron. Bowerman, the legendary track coach from the University of Oregon, held a 49 percent stake in Blue Ribbon Sports and had been experimenting with prototypes for years. He used his wife’s waffle iron to create a shoe that would be more compatible with the university’s new urethane track.

Johnson comes up with the name in a dream and Nike Inc. is officially established on May 30, 1971; the name is an homage to the Greek goddess of victory. The name and Swoosh logo begin appearing on shoes for track and field, soccer, football and basketball.

1972:

Although the company was officially created the year before, Knight considers May 1, 1972 — the date Onitsuka informed him it was terminating its license with Blue Ribbon Sports — as Nike’s official founding date. As he wrote in his memoir “Shoe Dog,” “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. Our moment. No more selling someone else’s brand. No more working for someone else. It’s time we faced facts: If we’re going to succeed, or fail, we should do so on our own terms, with our own ideas, with our own brand. Let’s not look at this as a crisis. Let’s look at this as our liberation. Our Independence Day.”

1973

Nike pays Olympic icon Steve Prefontaine $5,000 to offset his training expenses, and in return, he becomes national director of public affairs and travels the Pacific Northwest introducing runners to these new Nike shoes.

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