36 Facts About Bill Bowerman

William Jay Bowerman was an American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc Over his career, he trained 31 Olympic athletes, 51 All-Americans, 12 American record-holders, 22 NCAA champions and 16 sub-4 minute milers.

Bill Bowerman disliked being called a coach, and during his 24 years at the University of Oregon, the Ducks track and field team had a winning season every year but one, attained 4 NCAA titles, and finished in the top 10 in the nation sixteen times.

Bill Bowerman had an older brother and sister, Dan and Mary Elizabeth "Beth"; and a twin brother, Thomas, who died in an elevator accident when he was two years old.

Bill Bowerman attended Medford and Seattle schools before returning to Medford for high school.

Bill Bowerman played in the high school band and for the state champion football team his junior and senior years.

Bill Bowerman first met Barbara Young, the woman he married, while a high school student in Medford.

In 1929, Bill Bowerman attended the University of Oregon to play football and study journalism.

Bill Bowerman was a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.

In 1935, Bill Bowerman moved back to Medford to teach and coach football during which won a state title in 1940.

Bill Bowerman had been in the ROTC and Army Reserve, and then joined the United States Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the days following the Pearl Harbor attack.

Bill Bowerman was assigned to Fort Lawton in Washington and served a year there before being assigned to the 86th Mountain Infantry Regiment at Camp Hale in Leadville, Colorado.

Bill Bowerman was in the 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, the regiment became a part of the 10th Mountain Division.

Bill Bowerman's duty entailed organizing the troops' supplies and maintaining the mules used to carry the supplies in the mountains.

Bill Bowerman negotiated a stand-down of German forces near the Brenner Pass in the days before the surrender of the German army in all of Italy.

Bill Bowerman's teams boasted 33 Olympians, 38 conference champions and 64 All-Americans.

Bill Bowerman disliked being called a coach; he saw himself as more of a teacher.

Bill Bowerman expected his squad to excel in the classroom, and urged his charges to apply the lessons they learned on the track to everyday life.

In 1972, Bill Bowerman stepped back from day-to-day coaching activities to conduct fundraising for renovating the Hayward Field grandstands that would be necessary for the consideration of hosting the US Olympic Trials again in 1976.

Bill Bowerman ran unsuccessfully for an House seat in the Oregon Legislature in 1970 as a Republican, losing by only 815 votes out of 61,000 cast.

Bowerman officially retired as head coach on March 23,1973, and assistant coach Bill Dellinger was immediately promoted.

Bill Bowerman created a training program for adjusting athletes for the high altitude that they would experience at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games.

Bill Bowerman coached members of teams from Norway, Canada, Australia, and the United States.

Bill Bowerman brought this concept back to the United States, and began to write articles and books about running.

Bill Bowerman created a running program in Eugene that became a national model for fitness programs.

The formation and success of Athletics West, together with the success and popularity of American runners like Craig Virgin, Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter and Bill Bowerman Rodgers helped inspire the 1970s running boom.

In 1964, Bill Bowerman entered into a handshake agreement with Phil Knight, who had been a miler under him in the 1950s, to start an athletic footwear distribution company called Blue Ribbon Sports, later known as Nike, Inc Knight managed the business end of the partnership, while Bill Bowerman experimented with improvements in athletic footwear design.

Bill Bowerman stayed in Eugene, keeping his coaching job at the University of Oregon, while Knight operated the main office from Portland.

Bill Bowerman did this to avoid potential gridlock and have one of them be in charge of final decisions.

Bill Bowerman designed several Nike shoes, but is best known for ruining his wife's Belgian waffle iron in 1970 or 1971, experimenting with the idea of using waffle-ironed rubber to create a new sole for footwear that would grip but be lightweight.

Bill Bowerman was obsessed with shaving weight off his athletes' running shoes.

Bill Bowerman believed that custom-made shoes would weigh less on the feet of his runners and cut down on blisters, as well as reduce the overall drag on their energy for every ounce he could remove from the shoe.

Bill Bowerman reduced his role with the company in the late 1970s and began passing down his stake in the company to other employees shortly before the IPO launched.

Bill Bowerman is a member of the National Distance Running Hall of Fame, the USA National Track and Field Hall of Fame, the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame, Oregon's Athletic Hall of Fame, the RRCA Distance Running Hall of Fame, and the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

The headquarters for Nike is located on Bill Bowerman Drive in homage to the company's co-founder.

The Bill Bowerman trophy was designed by Tinker Hatfield, a Nike employee and former Oregon student-athlete coached by Bill Bowerman.

In declining health in late 1999, Bill Bowerman died at age 88 at his home at an assisted care facility in Fossil, Oregon.