Shoe Dog

Dispirited after the death of Prefontaine, Bowerman offers to sell Knight two-thirds of his stake in Blue Ribbon. Knight reluctantly agrees but convinces Bowerman to stay on as a vice president and member of the board.

Knight sees enormous success throughout 1976 with Bowerman’s waffle-trainer shoes. He redefines his sales goals to accommodate such success. The waffle-trainers give Nike “something we’d always lacked—an identity. More than a brand, Nike was now becoming a household word” (284).

To meet growing demand, Knight looks to Taiwan to open new factories. He flies there with Jim Gorman, a trusted employee. They find one factory in the small town of Douliou that shows promise. They meet with a man named Jerry Hsieh in Taipei, who offers to connect them with factories in Taiwan.

At the 1976 Olympic Trials in Eugene, the top three finishers in the 10,000-meter race wear Nikes. Shorter wins the marathon, and a runner named Craig Virgin wins the 5,000, both in Nikes. At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, however, Knight is surprised and disappointed to discover Shorter toeing the line in Tigers.

After considering going public several times, Knight brings the possibility up at the biannual meeting he holds with Woodell, Strasser, Hayes, and Johnson.