Nike emanated from two sources: Bill Bowerman's quest for lighter, more durable racing shoes for his Oregon runners, and Phil Knight's search for a way to make a living without having to give up his love of athletics. Bowerman was s track coach at the University of Oregon where Phil Knight ran in 1959.Bowerman's desire for better quality running shoes clearly influenced Knight in his search for a marketing strategy. Between them, the seed of the most influential sporting company grew.

Blue Ribbon Sports, the predecessor to Nike, started as a small shoe store in Oregon. Blue Ribbon started out as a running specialty store. They sold only running shoes, nothing else. The store became very popular with the running town of Eugene, where the University of Oregon is located. Their track program was the best in the country and now they had a store designed just for them, with shoes designed by their coach.

In 1963 Phil Knight had traveled to Japan. He scheduled an interview with a Japanese running shoe manufacturer, Tiger--a subsidiary of the Onitsuka Company (now Tiger-Asic). Presenting himself as the representative of an American distributor interested in selling Tiger shoes to American runners, Knight told the businessmen of his interest in their product. Blue Ribbon Sports, the name Knight thought of moments after being asked who he represented was born. The Tiger executives liked what they heard and Knight placed his first order for Tigers soon after.

By 1964, Knight had sold $8,000 of Tigers and placed an order for more. After cresting $1 million in sales and riding the wave of the success, Knight devised the Nike name and trademark Swoosh in 1971. The Swoosh was bought from an art student for $35.Knight was the person behind the business, but Bowerman was the man behind the shoe. During the 1960's, Bowerman not only helped initiate the jogging craze, but also designed a shoe directly for it.

The shoe that Bowerman created became known as the waffle. It was named this because he first created it by pouring rubber into his wife's waffle iron to create the modern distance running sole.

One of the first distance runners to ever wear a Nike shoe was Steve Prefontaine. He was the next great hope in the United States running program for a gold medal in the Olympics. When given his first pair of Nike shoes he looked at them and immediately and ripped off the Swoosh on the side. After ripping the Swoosh off, Bowerman asked him why he did it, Pre nonchalantly replied, "It looked like needless air resistance to me". Later he put that aside and became Nike's first endorsed athlete. Nike would go on to endorse many other athletes. Nike also started to endorse school sports teams, giving them clothes and shoes with the Nike logo, all in hopes of getting their name out to the public. All of the endorsements and deals did not start until Nike's transformations from Blue Ribbon to Nike and from small town company to corporation occurred and that all started in 1972.

In 1972 Blue Ribbon Sports separated from Tiger and became Nike. Nike was named after the Greek goddess of victory. At the Olympic trials that year was when Nike made its public debut. To get the name out Knight printed T-shirts with "Nike" printed across the front and handed them out to the spectators. Nike would have never become the company it is now without the sound business decisions of their CEO Phil Knight. Knight was one of the first businessmen to allow retailers to pre-order inventory. This was a revolutionary business decision that soon became standard among other businesses. After 8 years Nike decided that it was time to go public.

1979 saw the introduction of the Tailwind, the first ever style to feature Nike Air, the brainchild of NASA engineer Frank Rudy. Tough urethane bags containing pressurised gas allow the shoe to compress taking the impact of sports not your feet. Air Max styles evolved through the Air Force 1 in 1982 to the first visible Air shoe, the Air Max, in 1987. The development of Rudy's technology continued with the introduction of the multi-chamber unit as first featured in the Air Max 94, and utilised in the popular Max 95 and 97 styles.

Then in 1985 Nike signed the one player that every other company envies Nike for. During this year there was a young NBA rookie by the name of Michael Jordan entering the league. Nike soon signed the young superstar and launched the new Air Jordan shoes. This line is now one of the longest lasting lines in all of shoe history. The Air Jordan gave Nike the edge in basketball shoes. They now are the leaders in not only running shoes but also in basketball. Nike would soon branch out into many other sports making it a diverse and hugely profitable company.

This is the point at which I think Nike began to become the company that now is defining popular culture. They now branched out of their running background and started to sell to everyone. Nike began to sell not only sportswear, but also street wear. They were no longer a specialty store where runners could go to talk to knowledgeable staff. They began to hire young teenagers that would work for minimum wage. What was once a small town company had now changed to a worldwide mega corporation. Not only were Nike endorsing athletes from all sports, they also started to advertise to everyone. And that's where "Just Do It" came from.

In 1990, Nike broke new ground in opening its first Nike Town. Later in the 1990's Nike continued to innovate the running shoe, with the introduction of the Air Huarache, Nike first introduced the laceless technology. The 90's were also when Nike first marketed the shoe with a see-through air pocket, designed to give more comfort and appeal to younger buyers. They also introduced the Run Walk shoe, as they liked to call it. Nike pushed the boundaries on in footwear design with the launch of the Shox in 2000. With four columns in the heel made from the same specialised rubber as used as shock absorbers for Formula 1 racing car engines, the Shox bounced onto the scene.

From the early seventies to the present, Nike has become one of the leading sports companies in the world. It has gone from being a strictly runner-oriented company, to one supporting every sport possible. Through the signing of hundreds of athletes and various successful ad campaigns Nike has now become a company that not only influences the sporting world, but has also come to define popular culture as we know it.