Phil Knight

At 86 years old, Phil Knight physical status not available right now. We will update Phil Knight's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Career

Knight, a CPA who later became an ambassador for Blue Ribbon Sports, was a CPA who worked with Coopers & Lybrand and later Price Waterhouse. Knight then became an accounting professor at Portland State University.

Knight enlisted in the Army immediately after graduating from the University of Oregon and spent seven years in the Army Reserve. Knight then enrolled at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he wrote "Can Japanese Sports Shoes Do to German Sports Shoes" in his small business class. What Japanese Cameras Did to German Cameras? "This essentially premised his impending foray into running shoes." His aim was to bring high-quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan to the American market. In 1962, he graduated with a master's degree in business administration from Stanford.

After graduation, Knight embarked on a world tour, with a stop in Kobe, Japan, in November 1962. He discovered Tiger brand running shoes, which were later developed in Kobe by Onitsuka Co., now known as Asics. Knight Mr. Onitsuka, who was excited by the shoe's quality and low price, wanted to meet with him. Knight had obtained Tiger distribution rights for the western United States by the time of the conference.

The first Tiger samples will take more than a year to be delivered to Knight; during this time, he found a career as an accountant in Portland. When Knight finally got the shoe samples, he sent two pairs to Bowerman at the University of Oregon, in the hopes of obtaining both a sale and a prominent endorsement. Bowerman not only ordered the Tiger shoes but also offered to become a Knight partner and provide product design solutions, to Knight's delight. On January 25, 1964, the pair decided to work together by handshake, the company that would later become Nike.

At track meets around the Pacific Northwest, Knight's first sales were made from a now legendary green Plymouth Valiant vehicle. These early sales allowed Knight to leave his accounting career and work full time for Blue Ribbon Sports in 1969.

Jeff Johnson, Nike's first employee, suggested that the company be called "Nike" after the Greek winged goddess of triumph, and that Blue Ribbon Sports was later renamed Nike in 1971.

"Swoosh" logo, now considered one of the world's most coveted logos, was created for $35 from graphic design student Carolyn Davidson in 1971. Knight said at the time: "I don't love it, but it will grow on me," Nike's website explained at the time. Davidson was given an undisclosed amount of Nike stock for her role in the company's brand in September 1983. When the company went public in April 2011, Knight said he gave Davidson "a few hundred shares."

Knight spent time at Nike with some of the world's most popular celebrities, including Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods.

Will Vinton Studios animation firm, which had achieved well-established in the late 1990s, needed outside investors due to rapid expansion. In 1998, Knight and his son Travis, who had left Portland State after an unsuccessful attempt at a rap music career, went to work as an animator.

Knight later purchased Will Vinton Studios and assumed responsibility for the company's board with the help of Nike executives, citing mismanagement. Knight rebranded the firm Laika in late 2003, after Vinton stepped down—prior to leaving the company with a severance package—Knight rebranded the firm Laika. He invested $180 million into Laika, and the studio's first feature film, Coraline, was released in 2009. Coraline was a financial success, and Travis Knight was then promoted to Laika's CEO and president roles.

Matthew, his son Matthew, who was 34 years old when Knight bought Vinton, traveled to El Salvador in May 2004 to film a fund-raising video for Christian Children of the World, a Portland non-profit group. However, while scuba diving in Lake Ilopango, near San Salvador, Vincenzo Iannuzzelli and Robert McDonell died of a heart disease defect that had not been detected. Knight and Travis rode into El Salvador to bring Matthew's body back to the United States. Moongirl, Laika Studio's 2005 short film Moongirl, was dedicated to Matthew's memory.

Knight resigned as Nike CEO on November 18, 2004, several months after Matthew's death, but the board retained the chairmanship. William Perez, the former CEO of S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., who was eventually replaced by Mark Parker in 2006, was the Knight's replacement.

In 2011, the Matthew Knight Arena at the University of Oregon was named in his honor.

During the 2009–2010 period, Knight was the most significant single contributor to the campaign to defeat Oregon Ballot Measures 66 and 67, which, when it was completed, raised income tax on certain businesses and high-income individuals.

Knight and Nike announced in June 2015 that he would resign as the company's chairman, with president and CEO Mark Parker to replace him. At the end of June 2016, the Knights' departure from the Nike board came into play. Knight came out of retirement to put a black stripe on the UNC jerseys for the Phil Knight Classic in Portland, Oregon, in September 2017.

In July 2018, Knight's memoir, Shoe Dog, was published on Simon & Schuster's fifth best seller list for business books, and it covers the Nike brand's history, from importing Japanese shoes to being part of a federal probe.

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