44 pages 1 hour read

Phil Knight

Shoe Dog

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2016

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Summary and Study Guide

Overview

Shoe Dog is a first-person memoir written by Nike co-founder Phil Knight. It was published in 2016. Shoe Dog primarily recounts the events from 1962, the year Knight traveled around the world as a young man, to 1980, the year Nike went public and Knight became a multimillionaire. The years in between are comprised of the struggles and challenges Knight faced as he worked to build the company that would ultimately be known worldwide as Nike.

Shoe Dog is divided into 20 chapters, each one roughly corresponding to one year in Knight’s life. In addition to the challenges related to building a company, Knight also reflects on the challenges and triumphs he faced as a son, as a young man searching for his identity, as a husband, and as a father.

After completing undergraduate studies at the University of Oregon and business school at Stanford, Knight returned to his parents’ home in Portland, Oregon, in 1962, where he received a loan from his father to travel around the world. While in Japan, Knight met with executives at Onitsuka Tiger, a Japanese shoe company, which agreed to send Knight shoe samples to sell back in the United States. In 1964 Knight began selling Onitsuka shoes in earnest throughout the West Coast. That year he also partnered with Bob Bowerman, his college track-and-field coach; Knight oversaw the managerial and financial end of things, while Bowerman experimented with shoe design. Over the years Blue Ribbon grew into a thriving company. When Onitsuka and Blue Ribbon became bitter rivals and parted ways, Knight was forced to begin producing his own shoes, which he ultimately called Nikes. Bowerman’s designs influenced many of Nike’s iconic styles, including its waffle trainers.

In the years that followed, Nike faced $1 million payments to creditors, dirty tricks played by competitors, the death of Prefontaine (a beloved Oregonian distance runner and Nike celebrity-employee), and many other challenges. Through it all, Knight told himself to “never stop.” The result of his perseverance is Nike, a multibillion-dollar brand worn by many of the world’s best athletes and recognized across the globe.