In response, athletic director Pat Kilkenny said: "This extraordinary gift will set Oregon athletics on a course toward certain self sufficiency and create the flexibility and financial capacity for the university to move forward with the new athletic arena. The facility was built using bonds backed by the State of Oregon. Knight's personal locker in the team's locker room displays the title "Uncle Phil", and other features include a gym with Brazilian hardwood floors, Apple iPhone chargers in each of the player's lockers, various auditoriums and meeting rooms, a games room for the players that includes flat-screen televisions and foosball machines, and a cafeteria.
The plans for the 29, square foot complex was announced in September. Construction started in January and ended in September The sports complex was named the Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center and includes motion capture systems, neurocognitive assessment tools, yard dash track, and steam machines made by Nike to help athletes break into their footwear more quickly. Three new buildings will be constructed and will provide family-wage jobs once it is completed and fully operational.
Knight's contributions to the athletic department at UO have also led to controversy. In April , student leaders began organizing an anti-sweatshop and fair labor practices campaign, and called for Dave Frohnmayer, president of the school, to support the Workers Rights Consortium WRC.
In early April, an open meeting of students further demanded that the organization Fair Labor Association FLA would receive no consideration from the university, as it was perceived as a group founded, funded and backed by Nike and other corporations, and had also been criticized by worker rights advocates as an exercise in dishonest public relations.
In a public statement, Knight criticized the WRC for having unrealistic provisions and called it misguided, while praising the FLA for being "balanced" in its approach. In the face of ongoing conflict with students, Frohnmayer sided with Knight's assertion that the WRC was providing unbalanced representation and, in October , Eugene Weekly reported Frohnmayer stating that:.
On February 16, , the Oregon University System enacted a mandate that all institutions within the system choose business partners from a politically neutral standpoint, barring all universities in Oregon from joining either the WRC or the FLA.
Also controversial was Knight's success in lobbying for former insurance executive Pat Kilkenny to be named as athletic director at the university. Kilkenny had neither a college degree nor any prior experience in athletics administration.
He attended but did not graduate from UO, as he left the school with several credit hours still owing. In October , Knight donated several million dollars to the Catlin Gabel School to establish a scholarship for incoming freshmen students.
Knight and wife Penny also donated to the Marylhurst Knights Opportunity Scholarship Program at Marylhurst University, a private Roman Catholic university in Marylhurst, Oregon; as a result, the university named a lawn on their campus "Knight's Green" in the family's honor. The Hall recognized him as the driving force behind Nike's huge financial support of U. Knight was formally inducted on September 7, For his "contributions to business, corporate and philanthropic leadership", Knight was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences membership class.
Knight met his wife, Penelope "Penny" Parks, while he was working at Portland State University and the pair were married on September 13, They own a home in La Quinta, California. Biography Lists News Also Viewed. Phil Knight. The basics. The details from wikipedia. Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. It often indicates a user profile. Log out. US Markets Loading H M S In the news. Emmie Martin. Phil Knight was born on February 24, He ran track at the University of Oregon and graduated in with a degree in journalism.
Knight first came up with the idea for Blue Ribbon Sports — the company that later became Nike — during his time at Stanford. BRS' strategy was to import Japanese sneakers called Onitsuka Tigers and sell them at higher price points in the US, making a profit on the markup. When the company officially rebranded as Nike in , several well-known athletes were prominently sporting the shoes, helping double profits annually.
The company released the Nike Cortez in in tandem with the Olympics in Munich, and Knight ensured the shoes became a top choice of Olympic athletes. The company launched the now ubiquitous Air Force 1 model in It was the first shoe to feature Nike Air, a pocket of air in the heel that provided additional cushioning and support to basketball players.
It went on to become one of the most popular sneakers ever, and millions of pairs are still sold every year. Nike courted Jordan in , when he was a college basketball all-star on his way to the NBA. After the army, he joined the Stanford Graduate School of Business where he found his love for business and decided he wanted to become an entrepreneur.
When Phil Knight was in college during an assignment to invent a new business, he came up with a blueprint that involved a business dealing in sports shoes. After graduation, Phil Knight decided to tour the world. In , he was in Japan where he discovered the Tiger brand running shoes which were made and distributed by Onitsuka Company. He was so intrigued with the quality of the shoes and their low cost that he entered into a distribution contract with the company.
He was to distribute the shoes in the United States. He returned to Portland and took an accounting job while he waited for the shipping of the shoes from Japan to materialize. He entered into a partnership with his former coach, Bill Bowerman, to distribute the running shoes in the United States. In , the Company Blue Ribbon Sports was formed following the partnership. The company worked so hard that they had retail stores in Eugene, Oregon, California and Santa Monica.
The hard work of Knight and Bill gave then good profits in return. In , the company started having problems with Onitsuka Company and so Knight, and Bill decided to form their own company.
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