January 26, 2010  /  By George Kiel III

This Day in Sneaker History…

Phil Knight

Who designed the first ever Nike sneaker? What all does Air Max Technology entail? When was the first Nike sneaker created? That is only a few questions you may want to know the answer to if you are a die-hard, Nike sneaker enthusiasts. However, from a bigger standpoint, how did Nike itself begin?

46 years and one day ago, a person by the name of Phil Knight founded Blue Ribbon Sports which soon became Nike (January 25th, 1964). Knight, who is currently the owner, chairman, and CEO of the company, began selling running sneakers from the back of his truck under the name of Blue Ribbon Sports. His defining moment came when he called upon the brains of his former track coach Bill Bowerman (now a Nike co-founder) to elevate his brand. This led to the creation of the Nike Waffle Trainer which was the first shoe to possess traction. Nike, the brand formely known as Blue Ribbon Sports is now a multi-billion dollar company and is undoubtedly the most-recognized sneaker brand to date. Who else is ready for some more sneaker history?

Phil Knight

This Day in Sneaker History...

Phil Knight

This Day in Sneaker History...

Phil Knight

This Day in Sneaker History...

18 Responses to “This Day in Sneaker History…”

  1. Posted by AL at January 26, 2010 at 5:40 pm

    niiiice!!! educating people about whats on their feet

  2. Posted by Mopar910 at January 26, 2010 at 5:44 pm

    respect to the man….Phil Knight!!!!!

  3. Posted by Mr. Boombastic. Fanstastic. Sadiik at January 26, 2010 at 5:47 pm

    how come that guy Phil isn’t wearing any of his products in the pic above? looks like L.A. Gears if you ask me.

  4. Posted by Joe at January 26, 2010 at 5:56 pm

    Werd, you gotta love how Bowerman came up with the waffle pattern by using his wife’s waffle iron when she would go to church.

  5. Posted by soulie17 at January 26, 2010 at 5:58 pm

    Nice feature. I would like to see more of these

  6. Posted by Jerronimo at January 26, 2010 at 6:34 pm

    Nice article. He is truelly a pioneer of a new era. From rubber All Stars and Shelltops to Air Max, Zooms, Shocks, Pumps…etc. Proffessional sports would be a different game without this guy. Thanks for elevating our game and forcing other companies to do the same…Much respect!

  7. Posted by tofuwong at January 26, 2010 at 6:39 pm

    very very imformative article. thanks nicekicks ^_^

  8. Posted by poscogrubb at January 26, 2010 at 7:36 pm

    Hey Nicekicks, nice article. It’s a good start, though I would expect a sneaker blog to dig a little deeper and dish us some tidbits that are not found on Wikipedia. Please give us more!

  9. Posted by that dude e at January 26, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    isn’t Mark Parker currently the CEO of Nike?

  10. Posted by hovihov908 at January 26, 2010 at 8:49 pm

    These is very important and good to know

  11. Posted by Sneakaboia at January 26, 2010 at 10:20 pm

    sneakerfiend stop posting these dumb posts.no one cares how gay you are.and you can only wish you gave a bj to Rudy Gay.
    you are THE BIGGEST CHUMP and are full of B.S.

  12. Posted by dopematic3002 at January 26, 2010 at 10:33 pm

    Lame. I though this was common knowledge already? Is this column just gonna tell us next time that in this day MJ scored X amount of points in the X colorway of the Jordan X? Again, lame, I come here for news.

  13. Posted by my name sucks at January 26, 2010 at 11:04 pm

    Mr. Boombastic. Fanstastic. Sadiik

    How f**cking blind are you? Is that not a swoosh on his shoe? Or, do your eyes really suck as bad as my name?

    Looks like you are a complete FAIL.

    Also, George. Blue Ribbon Sports started as a distribution for Onitsuka Tigers. It wasn’t til ’71 that the first soccer shoe with the now famous “Swoosh” was a model called the NIKE. Feb 1972 the first line of Nike shoes.

    wikipedia bromosexual

  14. Posted by RETRO9S at January 26, 2010 at 11:10 pm

    hey NiceKicks, is there anyway for you to just block sneakerfiend’s IP address from commenting? cuz his comments are just stupid and useless.

    as for the article. that’s pretty sick. never knew that. pretty crazy how his small idea became so big.

  15. Posted by word is bond at January 27, 2010 at 12:04 am

    “first shoe to posses traction” – That’s kind of a bold claim
    i guess we were just fallin on our asses before the waffle runner

  16. Posted by Axeman at January 27, 2010 at 11:27 am

    If you want a good read on the history of Nike, read Geoff Hollister’s “Out of Nowhere”. Bill didn’t use the waffle iron while Barbara was at church, but the waffle iron was the inspiration. Also, read “Shoe Wars” to get an idea of how to dysfunctionally screw up your company not once, but over and over again.

  17. Posted by Mr. Boombastic. Fanstastic. Sadiik at January 27, 2010 at 10:25 pm

    “my name sucks” just like his sister that I Michael Phelp’d in with a passion.

  18. Posted by greenmaker24 at January 28, 2010 at 5:07 pm

    already knew this history

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