Nike Boss Phil Knight Sat Down With Oprah And Had His Oprah Moment

This was mildly interesting to us, seeing as the founder of Nike doesn't do interviews...well, pretty much ever.  But apparently, even the most hardened no-interview-givers of the world can't say no to the "talk show queen".  She said that it took her team "a lot of convincing" to get Knight to join her on the show.  

I grew up dreaming of working for Nike, actually.  When I was 10 years old, I thought the coolest thing in the world was that Nike, one of the best known shoe companies in the world, was from here in Oregon.  Yeah, it's kind of nerdy, but c'mon now, I was 10!  Then when I was 12 or 13, I did a research paper about Nike and all the kick ass benefits that their employees have at their disposal.  Anyway, I've always been pretty interested in the "story" of Nike and how it came to be.  And for the record, working for them still would be pretty freakin nice.  (Mr. Knight, if you're reading this, you can email me anytime you wish!  I can start tomorrow...)

Having said that, I didn't watch or record the interview, so that whole last paragraph is pretty much pointless.  But there are a few things in the article about the interview that I didn't know about Knight and Nike.

**On his relationship with his track coach and business partner Bill Bowerman: "With Winfrey's nudging, Knight acknowledged he might have sought out his former track coach for more than his business know-how or ideas about shoe design.....Maybe I got the company started just so I could stay close to him," Knight said, adding that after his parents, Bowerman was the most influential person in his life."

**On first hearing the proposed company name of "Nike": "He credited Jeff Johnson -- one of Nike's first employees -- with coming up with the name derived from the Greek goddess of victory.  "I don't really like it that much," Knight recalled as his reaction to the name, adding, "I quite like it now."

**On Carolyn Davidson, who designed Nike's logo: "He said he overheard Davidson say she was short of money for a prom dress.....Knight stopped, said his company needed someone to create a logo and he could pay $2 a hour. He told Winfrey she worked 17.5 hours on the project so the bill came out to $35.....Not a bad deal, he said, but noted that when Nike became a publicly trade company "we gave her a few hundred shares which she has held to this day, so she's done pretty good."

**On working with Lance Armstrong to come up with the whole LiveStrong wristband trend: "At an event after the LiveStrong band had taken hold with consumers, Knight once leaned over to Armstrong at an event and said of the wristbands, “Hey, I thought that was the dumbest idea I’d ever heard.”.....“I’d lean over,” Armstrong told Winfrey, “and say, ‘So did I.’ ”

Knight also talked about his son's passing in a scuba diving accident in 2004, which he probably doesn't bring up very much for obvious reasons.  “How did that loss change you?” Winfrey asked.  “That’s the thing no parent should have to face, a child dying before you,” Knight said. “It aged me much faster than anything you can imagine.”

We don't hear much from Nike's founder publicly these days, but when he does give an interview, it's usually going to be rather interesting stuff.