Biographic Information

Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight created Nike in 1964 (History). The first major athlete to wear Nike products was the Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine, Olympic bronze medalist and U.S. record holder in every distance from 2,000 meters to 10000 meters (History). Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson, and Carl Lewis all helped make Nike more popular in Mainstream America throughout the 1980's and 90's. Today Nike sponsors many big name athletes in all the major sports such as, Lebron James, Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Ladainian Tomlinson, Derek Jeter, and Cristiano Ronaldo who all help to increase the brand's popularity (Rose).