LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Philip Knight: Bill Bowerman
built 221 days ago
In 1963 Philip H. Knight began selling track shoes out of the trunk of his car. Forty years later he presided over the largest and most visible athletic apparel company in the world. From 1964 to 1972 Knight and his former track coach, Bill Bowerman, distributed Japanese-made running shoes in America and gradually laid the foundation for the Nike empire. By the late 1980s, the Nike "swoosh" trademark had become ubiquitous, and Knight was well on his way toward managing a multibillion-dollar company.
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At the elder William Wrigley's death in 1932, Philip inherited the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company chewing gum empire; various real properties, including Santa Catalina Island off the coast of southern California; and the Chicago Cubs. Philip Wrigley took his stewardship of the family holdings seriously, with the Cubs holding special sentimental value. "The club and the park stand as memorials to my father," he said. "I will never dispose of my holdings in the club as long as the chewing gum business remains profitable enough to retain it." Ownership was one thing; management another. When Wrigley took over the presidency of the team in 1934, one year after the death of longtime team president Bill Veeck, Sr., he said: "God knows, I don't want the job.
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Three events shaped Knight's future as the leader of Nike. The first occurred in 1957 when he met Bowerman, his coach on the University of Oregon track team. Bowerman was a former Olympian whose passion for athletes and innovation would eventually inspire Knight to create a business dedicated to those two things. When Knight began his business selling shoes to track athletes, Bowerman became his partner. The second event occurred when Knight was attending business school at Stanford University. In response to an assignment from Professor Frank Shallenberger, Knight devised a business and marketing plan for importing high-quality running shoes from Japan and selling them in the United States at a high profit margin.
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