Nike

He then gave new product to a few of his runners at the university to try out. They loved the shoes. The good traction paired with the extra cushion was a success. Phil took to the road to sell their newly developed shoe to local stores and at track meets. In 1966, Blue Ribbon Sports opened its first store in Santa Monica, California. Knight and Bowerman managed the store with one other employee, Jeff Johnson. Johnson, a former Stanford School of Business track runner, gave Blue Ribbon Sports a new name. He suggested that they name the company Nike, produced NI-KEY. Nike is the goddess of victory according to Greek mythology. Nike sat at the side of Zeus, the ruler of Olympia. Nike has wings and carries a palm of wreath in her hands. Her mystical presence symbolizes victorious encounters and presided over history's early battlefields. Nike stood for victory in many aspects of the ancient Greek life including athletics ("Nike at a Glance," n.d). .
             Around this time, when Nike was not making much of a profit, Knight also worked as an accounting teacher at Portland state University. It was there that he met Carolyn Davidson, a graphic design student. Knight offered to pay her a couple dollars an hour to do some design work for Nike (Becklund, 1994). In 1971 Davidson gave birth to what would become one of the most recognizable logos in the world, the Nike Swoosh. The wings of Nike, the goddess of victory, inspired the Swoosh. Although she was paid only $35 dollars for the design it became so valuable to Nike that later when Nike became a large company, they gave Davidson shares in the company ("Nike Brand Marketing,"n.d.). With a new company name and logo Nike's luck was looking up. A trading company called Nissho Iwai allowed Nike to subcontract its own shoe line. By 1972 they were selling Nike band name shoes. Soon Olympic runners were wearing Nike brand shoes. Steve Perfontaine was the first big track athlete to wear the shoes.