Fun Facts

Ten Things You Didn't Know about Nike

1. Phil Knight got his start by selling shoes out of his trunk at track meets

 2. Phil used his wife’s waffle iron to create the first Nike shoes with greater traction

3. The name Nike means the Greek goddess of victory and came from one of the company’s first employees

 4. Phil said at first he didn’t like the name “Nike” much then he read in a marketing book that you should have a “hard sound in your trademark” and has since changed his tune

 5. A Portland State graphic arts student designed the Nike swoosh for $35

6. Nike signed Michael Jordan to rep the brand in 1984 even before he stepped on the court for the Chicago Bulls because he was well educated, articulate and handsome

 7. Nike sells about double the Jordan products today than when he played at the peak of his career; Phil calls Jordan “a brand within a brand”

8. Phil admitted that he thought Nike’s LiveStrong bracelet was “the dumbest idea I’d ever heard” (to date there have been about 80 million yellow wristbands sold)

 9. Phil called his former track coach at Oregon and Nike co-founder/business partner Bill Bowerman the most influential person in his life after his parents (Bowerman passed away in 1999)

 10. Phil’s son Matthew died in a scuba diving accident in 2004, this year he helped dedicate “The Matthew Knight Arena” at the University of Oregon in memory of his son.
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