Phil Knight premature obituary
Phil Knight the cofounder of Nike and one of the most powerful men in sports has died. He died at the age of TK due to TK. He was born in Feb. 1938 to William and Lola Knight in Portland, Ore. He married Penny Knight in 1968 and had three children; Travis, Matthew, and Christina Knight.
With Knights vision, Nike changed the sports landscape. Starting in the running world with a waffle iron to create a sneaker outsole to better grip the track. With commercials that to blended sport into pop culture. The man behind the brand that changed the way basketball shoes looked. Going from black and white Chuck Taylor’s to breaking that norm with Michael Jordan’s first signature shoe, a pair of black and red Jordan 1’s. Knight and Nike even paid the fine the NBA placed on Jordan and turned it into free publicity.
The man who said, “life is growth, you grow, or you die.” Refused to stop growing and created a brand that is synonymous with sports. Having uniform rights for the big three sports in America, you can’t watch a sporting event without seeing the famous swoosh.
Growing up, Knight loved sports but was too small to participate in most. He took to track and field, running anywhere and everywhere and excelling because of his speed and endurance. His commute home entailed running seven miles’ home from work at The Oregonian.
Being small in stature may have been a blessing in disguise for him as it inspired and led to so much of what has made him so successful.
He attended the University of Oregon and earned a degree in journalism. While attending Oregon, he was a member of the track and field team under coach and future business partner Bill Bowerman. He competed in the mile run event and had a personal best time of 4:10.
He was also a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. Upon graduation, Knight enlisted in the army and eventually earn an MBA from Stanford University.
In 1964, he co-founded Blue Ribbon Sports, which would become Nike in 1972. Nike began when he and his co-founder and track coach Bowerman put in $500 to start the company. Knight served as the chairman of Nike until 2016. In the same year, he also released a memoir entitled Shoe Dog.
He won many awards and accolades over the years, including being inducted into The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012 by Michael Jordan and the 2003 sports executive of the year.
In 1993, he was named the most powerful man in sports by The Sporting News.
Knight was not without controversy. Embroiled in claims of running sweatshops and using child labor. He and Nike made attempts and remedy this by taking steps to make their factory Information more public and transparent with the factories working conditions.
With his enormous amounts of success, he created a history of philanthropic donations. He donated billions of dollars over the years since founding his foundation in 1990. His most recent donation was $942 million worth of Nike shares to charity.
Beyond his charitable donations, he became a heavy donor to his alma mater and even earned the nickname Uncle Phil to those around the Oregon campus because he’s there when you need him. A quick walk through the campus, and you will see Knight named buildings everywhere, including Matthew Knight Arena named after his late son Matthew.
Knight is survived by his wife Penny and children Travis and Christina.
