Image credited: Pixabay by Tookapic
Philip Hampson Knight, born on February 24, 1938, in Poland Oregon, he is one of American successful businessmen. He holds Master of Business Administration, from Stanford Graduate School of Business, in 1962 and Bachelor of Arts/Science from University of Oregon in 1959. He was Assistant Professor of Business Administration from 1964 to 1969 in Poland State University.
In 1963, Philip Hampson Knight had business idea in selling sport shoes. Hence, he traveled to Japan to visit Onitsuka Tiger Co. that specialized in shoe making in 1962 He met with the executives of the said company and made an arrangement with them to import their shoes to U.S. if they can send samples to him to show to his partners, the company’s executives agreed and he borrowed money from his father in the U.S to pay for the samples. He sent some of the sample to his one-time coach Bill Bowerman in University of Oregon who became his partner and both of them contributed $500. They established Blue Ribbon Sports and by 1963, he started selling shoes from the boot of his car to track athletes. By 1964 Knight and Bill Bowerman, distributed Japanese made athletic shoes in the U.S. It was reported that in 1969 alone Knight sold Tiger shoes worth of $1million and by the early 1970s Tiger shoes worth $3 million.
However, towards the end of 1971, there’s contract disagreement with Tiger Shoe Company in Japan. Consequently, Knight and Bowerman decided to start their own company. The first staff employed, Jeff Johnson, suggested the new company name to be Nike! The name was accepted and Knight paid an undergraduate student of Portland State University $35 to design Nike’s Iconic ‘Swoosh’ symbol.
Today Nike has become a global sports equipment and apparel giant and the entrepreneur Philip Hampson Knight is the one of the richest man in the world.
Thank you!
