This Day in Sneaker History…

738 days ago - by George Kiel III - 19 comments

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?

This Day in Sneaker History...

AL
niiiice!!! educating people about whats on their feet
Mopar910
respect to the man….Phil Knight!!!!!
Mr. Boombastic. Fanstastic. Sadiik
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.
Joe
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.
soulie17
Nice feature. I would like to see more of these
Jerronimo
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!
tofuwong
very very imformative article. thanks nicekicks ^_^
poscogrubb
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!
that dude e
isn’t Mark Parker currently the CEO of Nike?
hovihov908
These is very important and good to know
Sneakaboia
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.
dopematic3002
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.
my name sucks
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
RETRO9S
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.
word is bond
“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
Axeman
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.
Mr. Boombastic. Fanstastic. Sadiik
“my name sucks” just like his sister that I Michael Phelp’d in with a passion.
greenmaker24
already knew this history
http://www.faveblog.net/search/australia Kaye General
Would this work in the Un ited Kingdom too?