Phil Knight

He married Penelope "Penny" Parks in September 1968. They had four children, of whom one son, Matthew, died in a diving accident in 2004.

He was born as Philip Hampson Knight on February 24, 1938, as the son of lawyer turned newspaper publisher William W. Knight, and his wife Lota. His father was a domineering though caring person who encouraged his son to push his limits.

He attended Cleveland High School in Portland. He loved running from a young age and was a key member of the track team.

He went to the University of Oregon (UO) in Eugene where he continued running. There he met the legendary track coach Bill Bowerman under whom he trained as a middle-distance runner. Eventually Knight struck up a deep and meaningful friendship with Bowerman. He graduated with a journalism degree in 1959.

Knight was confused about his future even after his graduation and unsure of what he actually wanted to do. He enlisted in the army and completed a year of service.

He decided to enroll in the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. One of the courses he studied was Frank Shallenberger’s small business class which he found very interesting.

He embarked on a trip around the world following his graduation. He visited Japan in November 1962 where he discovered the Tiger-brand running shoes which were manufactured by Onitsuka Co. Knight was highly impressed by the high quality and low cost of the shoes and quickly secured a distribution contract with the company.

On his return, he took up a job in a Portland-based accounting firm while working on his business plan alongside. He collaborated with his former coach Bowerman to form a partnership to distribute the shoes in America, and thus the company Blue Ribbon Sports was born in 1964.

The duo worked hard to make the business grow and over the next few years they opened retail stores in Santa Monica, California, and Eugene, Oregon. The company performed well and by the late 1960s was generating good profits.

Knight and Bowerman faced some disagreements regarding the contract with Onitsaka in 1971 and decided to start their own company. Jeff Johnson, a friend of Knight and an employee of Blue Ribbon Sports suggested naming the new company “Nike” after the Greek winged goddess of victory.

As a former athlete, Knight aspired to design products that the world’s top athletes would want to use. He made acquaintances with Olympic track athletes, such as the long-distance runner Steve Prefontaine, hoping he would influence others to try his products. Nike’s model of shoe, the Cortez, debuted at the 1972 Olympic trials and proved to be highly profitable.

Phil Knight co-founded Nike, Inc., a footwear company, in 1971. Today Nike is a multinational with its presence in several countries all over the world and is one of the world's largest suppliers of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment. It is the most valuable brand among sports businesses.