Phil Knight

Philip Hampson Knight (born February 24, 1938) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist who co-founded Nike, Inc. alongside his former track coach Bill Bowerman. As chairman and CEO of Nike from 1964 to 2004, and chairman until 2016, Knight built a small shoe distribution business into the world's largest athletic footwear and apparel company, with a market capitalization exceeding $200 billion.

As of 2024, Knight's net worth was estimated at US$40.3 billion, making him one of the fifty wealthiest people in the world and Oregon's richest individual. He and his wife Penny have donated more than $7.8 billion to philanthropic causes over the past two decades, including the largest single donation ever made to a U.S. University - a $2 billion gift to the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute in 2024.

In 2016, Knight published his memoir Shoe Dog, which became an international bestseller and offered a candid account of Nike's founding and early struggles.

Early life and education

Knight was born on February 24, 1938, in Portland, Oregon, to William W. Knight, a lawyer who later became a newspaper publisher, and his wife Lota Cloy (née Hatfield) Knight. His father was a domineering but caring person who encouraged his son to push his limits. Knight grew up in Portland and attended Cleveland High School.

Knight earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Oregon in 1959, completing the program in just three years. During his time at Oregon, he was a member of the track team under legendary coach Bill Bowerman, earning varsity letters in 1957, 1958, and 1959 as a middle-distance runner. Knight was also a "Distinguished Military Graduate" in 1959 and subsequently served one year on active duty in the Army and seven years in the Army Reserve.

Knight then enrolled at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he wrote a seminal paper arguing that Japanese shoe production - which benefited from lower labor costs - could outpace German manufacturers, then the leading sneaker producers. His goal was to bring high-quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan to America. He earned his MBA in 1962.

Career

Early career

Prior to founding Nike, Knight worked as a certified public accountant at Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand. He also served as an assistant professor of business administration at Portland State University, where he taught accounting.

Japan trip and Onitsuka Tiger

After graduating from Stanford in 1962, Knight traveled to Japan on what would prove to be a transformative journey. In Kobe, he visited the Onitsuka Company (now Asics), maker of Tiger brand running shoes. Impressed by the quality and affordability of the products, Knight negotiated a distribution deal to sell Onitsuka Tiger shoes in the United States.

The first Tiger samples took more than a year to arrive. When Knight finally received them, he mailed two pairs to his former coach Bill Bowerman, hoping to secure both a sale and an influential endorsement. To Knight's surprise, Bowerman not only ordered the shoes but offered to become his business partner and provide product design ideas.

Founding Blue Ribbon Sports

On January 25, 1964, Knight and Bowerman shook hands on a deal that would change the athletic footwear industry. They founded Blue Ribbon Sports with a combined investment of just $1,200, each contributing $500. The company initially operated as a distributor for Onitsuka Tiger, with Knight selling shoes at track meets out of his automobile in Eugene, Oregon.

In their first year, Blue Ribbon Sports sold 1,300 pairs of running shoes. By 1969, annual sales had reached $1 million, and Knight left his other jobs to focus on the business full-time.

Birth of Nike

Following a contentious split with Onitsuka in 1971, Blue Ribbon Sports began designing and manufacturing its own shoes. The company was renamed Nike, after the Greek goddess of victory. The name was proposed by Jeff Johnson, Blue Ribbon's first full-time employee, who claimed it came to him in a dream.

That same year, Knight commissioned a graphic design student named Carolyn Davidson to create a logo. She designed the now-iconic "swoosh" for just $35. (Knight later gave Davidson company stock as well.)

Also in 1971, Bowerman designed a revolutionary sneaker with waffle-pattern soles, allegedly creating the prototype using his wife's waffle iron. The waffle sole provided superior traction and became a signature Nike innovation. In 1980, Knight and Bowerman took Nike public, with Knight retaining a controlling stake.

Nike's growth

Under Knight's leadership, Nike grew from a small Oregon business into the world's largest athletic footwear and apparel company. Key milestones included:

• 1984: Signing Michael Jordan to an endorsement deal that created the Air Jordan brand
• 1988: Launching the "Just Do It" advertising campaign
• 1990s: Expanding into apparel, equipment, and global markets
• 2000s: Becoming sponsor to major sports leagues and Olympic athletes worldwide

Knight served as Nike's CEO until 2004 and as chairman until 2016, when he became chairman emeritus. He and his family still own approximately 20% of Nike.

Controversies

Sweatshop and labor practices

Nike faced severe criticism in the 1990s for labor conditions in its overseas factories. Reports emerged of child labor, extremely low wages, poor health and safety conditions, and excessive working hours in factories producing Nike products in countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, and Pakistan.

A 1996 Life magazine article featuring a photograph of a 12-year-old Pakistani boy sewing a Nike soccer ball became an iconic image of corporate exploitation. Reports detailed children working up to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, in Nike contract factories.

In May 1998, Knight delivered a landmark speech at the National Press Club in which he acknowledged Nike's failures. "The Nike product has become synonymous with slave wages, forced overtime, and arbitrary abuse," he admitted. Knight announced reforms including raising the minimum age for shoe factory workers to 18, implementing U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration air quality standards in all factories, and allowing independent monitoring of facilities.

Critics argued that Knight's promises represented an attempt to deflect demands for living wages and rigorous independent monitoring. Follow-up reports in subsequent years indicated that problems persisted in Nike's supply chain.

University of Oregon donation withdrawal

In 2000, Knight pledged $30 million to his alma mater, the University of Oregon. When the university joined the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), a labor monitoring organization that Nike refused to cooperate with, Knight withdrew his donation. The incident highlighted tensions between Knight's philanthropic support for Oregon and ongoing criticism of Nike's labor practices.

Personal life

Marriage and family

Knight met Penelope "Penny" Parks when he was teaching Accounting 101 at Portland State University. A striking young woman with blond hair and blue eyes, Penny sat in the front row of his class. Knight learned her name during roll call. The couple married on September 13, 1968.

The Knights have three children: Matthew, Travis, and Christina.

Son's death

On May 23, 2004, Knight's eldest son Matthew Hatfield Knight died in a scuba diving accident at Lake Ilopango in El Salvador. He was 34 years old. Matthew had been working with Christian Children of the World, a nonprofit organization, and was diving with friends when he drowned. He left behind his wife Angie and two young sons, Logan (age 3) and Dylan (6 months).

Knight later described the tragedy as something that "aged me much faster than anything you can imagine." In his memoir Shoe Dog, he recalled that Tiger Woods was the first Nike athlete to call him after Matthew's death: "His call came in at 7:30 a.m. I will never, ever forget."

In Matthew's memory, Knight funded the construction of the Matthew Knight Arena, a $200 million basketball facility at the University of Oregon that opened in 2010.

Travis Knight and Laika

Knight's son Travis is the president and CEO of Laika, an Oregon-based stop-motion animation studio. Phil Knight acquired the struggling Will Vinton Studios in 2003 and transformed it into Laika, with himself as majority shareholder. Under Travis's creative leadership, Laika has produced critically acclaimed films including Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings, receiving multiple Academy Award nominations.

Philanthropy

Knight and his wife Penny have emerged as among America's most generous philanthropists. Through the Knight Foundation and personal giving, they have donated more than $7.8 billion over the past two decades.

Major donations include:

• Oregon Health & Science University: $2.7 billion total, including a record-breaking $2 billion in 2024 for the Knight Cancer Institute
• University of Oregon: At least $2.2 billion, including $500 million for the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact
• Stanford University: At least $580 million, including $400 million for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars graduate program
• Portland's Albina neighborhood: $400 million pledge in 2023 to revitalize the historically Black community

In 2023, Knight was America's second-largest donor, with $1.2 billion in giving.

Publications

• Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike (2016) - Knight's bestselling autobiography chronicling Nike's founding and growth

See also

• Nike, Inc.
• Bill Bowerman
• Nike sweatshops
• Shoe Dog
• Laika

External links

• Phil Knight at Nike
• Laika official website