Phil Knight says his bank cut off Nike in 1975. Its checks started to bounce.
He had begun 13 years earlier with $50 borrowed from his father for sample shoes.
In 1962 Knight, a young runner from Oregon, walked into the Onitsuka shoe company in Kobe, Japan. When they asked which company he was with, he made up a name on the spot and said, "I represent Blue Ribbon Sports of Portland, Oregon." Then he asked his father to send Onitsuka the $50.
On 25 January 1964 he and his old track coach, Bill Bowerman, became partners with a handshake. Knight sold the first shoes out of a green Plymouth Valiant at track meets. In 1971 the company was renamed Nike, and a design student drew the swoosh for $35.
In 1975, Knight writes in his memoir Shoe Dog, his bank in California cut the company off. Nissho Iwai, a Japanese trading house the company already owed, wrote a huge check and paid the bank. In fiscal 2026, Nike reported revenue of $46.4 billion.
One-minute true story. AI-generated illustration with narration by an AI voice.
Why would a creditor that was already owed money pay off the bank after the bank walked away?
What the captions say
- This is the story of how Phil Knight built Nike. In 1975, he says, his bank cut off his shoe company.
- It started in 1962, when Knight was a young runner from Oregon who wanted to sell Japanese running shoes in America.
- That year he walked into the Onitsuka shoe company in Kobe, Japan. Onitsuka's people asked him which company he was with.
- So he made up a name on the spot. Knight said, "I represent Blue Ribbon Sports of Portland, Oregon."
- Then he asked his father to send Onitsuka $50, so sample shoes would ship to the family home in Portland.
- In January 1964, Knight shook hands with his old track coach, Bill Bowerman. That handshake made them partners in Blue Ribbon Sports.
- Knight sold the first shoes out of a green Plymouth Valiant at track meets. Bowerman redesigned the shoe, and Onitsuka built and sold it as the Tiger Cortez.
- In 1971, the company was renamed Nike. A graphic design student drew the swoosh for $35.
- And that brings us back to 1975. Knight writes in his memoir that his bank in California cut the company off. Its checks started to bounce.
- Help came from Japan. Nissho Iwai, a Japanese trading house the company already owed, wrote a huge check and paid the bank.
- The company lived. In fiscal 2026, Nike's revenue was $46.4 billion.
- It began with $50 from his father, and a name he made up across a table in Kobe.
