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Page A6
December 29, 1999
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Business
N ik e c o - f o u n d e r B ill Tri-met offers free rides for New Year's revelers
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B o w e r m a n d ie s a t 8 8
Former Oregon track coach and Nike co-founder Bill
Bowerman, left, is shown with Nike CEO Phil Knight during the
Prefontaine Classic Track and Field Meet in Mav 1999 in
Eugene. Ore. Bowerman. credited with inventing the modern
running shoe with the help o f his wife s waffle iron.
Bill Bowerman, the Oregon trackcoach
who invented the modem running
shoe with the help ofhis wife’s waffle
iron, co-founded Nike and coached
running legend Steve Prefontaine,
has died. He was 88.
Bowerman died in his sleep late Friday
or early Saturday in a retirement home
in Fossil.
Nike Chairman Phil Knight expressed
grief.
‘In 1998, Fortune magazine, asked
me, who had been around so many
heroes, to name my personal hero.
And without hesitation, I named Bill
Bowerman. He was for so many o f us
a hero, leader and most o f all teacher.
“ M y sadness at his p assin g is
beyond words.”
In an interview with The Oregonian
last week, Bowerman fumbled his
speech and furrowed his brown when
searching for words.
“A lot o f people are afraid o f dying,”
he said. “Well, they might as well
recognize it’s going to happen. Me?
I’m well beyond the average age, so
every day is abonus, and I’m grateful
for it.
“People go around weeping and
wailing because they got old. Why?
I f you can’t do anything about it, I
don’t see any reason to get excited
about it.”
Bowerman officially retired from the
Nike board o f directors earlier this
year.
Bowerman, who coached at Oregon
from 1949-72, began experimenting
with different cushions and layers of
material to give his runners an edge.
In the late 1960s, he pressed foam
rubber into the waffle iron, and the
modem distance-running sole was
bom.
Knight was one ofBowerman’ s pupils.
Together they formed N ike, the
multibillion-dollar shoe and apparel
company.
D uring the interview w ith The
O re g o n ia n , B ow erm an w a s n ’t
wearing Nikes. The brand was Totes
— with Velcro straps.
When the co-founder o f Nike was
pressed about why he was not wearing
the product Bowerman reached down
and did a quick rip-on, rip-off motion
with the velcro straps.
“This is a design I submitted toNike,”
he said. “Hell, it’s quick. This isn’t a
very good shoe, but ifl get in a hurry,
it doesn’t fall off.”
“Bill doesn’t like tying his shoes now,”
his wife, Barbara, said. “He tried to
get Nike to make shoes with velcro,
and they did for a while . . . ”
Bill shot back— “And some hot-dog
designer, 1 have forgotten who it was.
didn't like it.”
In B e a v e rto n , at N ik e W orld
Headquarters, Knight chuckled at the
story.
“To this day, the product has never
been good enough for him,” Knight
said. “He was very conscious o f
quality, and those are things that
echo here to this day.”
Bowerman’s most famous athlete was
Prefontaine, the brash, mustachioed
prodigy who inspired a generation o f
distance runners. Prefontaine died in
a car crash in 1975.
Bowerman refused to take much credit
for building Oregon into a national
track power, and Eugene into a Mecca
for the sport. He said his predecessor,
Bill Hayward, took charge at the rain-
drenched school, separating the
“swimmers from the sunbathers.”
Nike announced in October that a
silhouette o f Bowerman in his old
Tyrollean hat would appear on Nike
running shoes, along with a smaller
“ swoosh,” the company’s trademark
symbol.
B ow erm an co ached 24 N CA A
individual champions and four NCAA
Team Champions in 1962,1964,1965
and 1970.
In 16 o f 24 years, his Oregon track
team finished in the top 10 in NCAA
championships.
He developed statewide programs
forhigh school athletes and instituted
jo g g in g p ro g ra m s th ro u g h o u t
O re g o n th a t h e lp e d fuel the
nationwide interest in jogging.
In the early ’60s he became very
interested in making a lighter running
shoe for his athletes, one not bound
by heavy leather and stiff soles. By
his calculation, for every ounce that
was removed from the shoe’s weight,
200 cumulative pounds would be lifted
from the runner over the course o f a
one-mile race.
With some latex, leather, glue and his
w ife ’s w affle iron, B ow erm an
developed the first lightw eight
outsole. This would revolutionize
running shoes.
Knight, who trained under Bowerman
in the late ’50s and who was later a
business student at Stanford, teamed
up with his old coach.
E ach c h ip p e d in $500 and
manufactured 330 pairs o f the new
W affle-designed shoe that they sold
for $3.30 a pair. Bowerman’s team
wore the shoes. Athletes around the
world began wearing them, followed
Tri-M et’s free on Y ear’s Eve
Tri-Met is providing extra bus and MAX services on New Year s Eve to
help people celebrate safely. The service will be free after 6p.m.
MAX will run every 10 minutes, but will be interrupted downtown around
the Millennium Event at PioneerCourthouse Square. Eastside MAX will
travel as far as SW 3"* and Morrison. Westside MAX riders traveling
through downtown, there’s a shuttle bus that can take people around the
event. The shuttle can be picked up at the Rose Quarter Transit Center,
along the Transit Mall or SW 18the & Jefferson MAX station.
There willbe extra bus service on 11 major bus routes, which will run every
15 minutes from 8p.m. until 3a.m.
Those routes are:
4-Fessenden,5-Interstate (to Hayden Meadows), 8-NE 15th Avenue (to
Hayden Meadows), 9-Powell Blvd. (to 98 & Powell), 12- Sandy Blvd., 12-
BarburBlvd. (toTigardTC), 14-Hawthome, 15-Belmont, 15-23"* Avenue,
33-McLoughlin Blvd. (to OregonCity), 54- Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy.
“Tri-Met has added more service to get people safety to theirNew Y ear’s
Eve events,” said Tri-Met General Manager Fred Hansen, “it’s free
frequent and a great way to void parking hassles and traffic congestion
in the downtown area.”
News Year's Eve downtown bus
detours and MAX shuttles
New Year’s Eve service
information sources:
Pick up a copv o f "A Holidav
service Guide ” on buses and Max,
at Tri-Met information racks and
in the Tri-Met Office located at
Pioneer Square. Check Tri-Met's
website at tri-met.org/millops.htm.
Call (503) 238-R1DE now to plan
your New Year’s Eve Trip. On New
Year’s Eve, Tri-Met customer
service representatives will assist
passengers at major transit centers
and throughout downtown
Portland. And the (503) 238-RIDE
trip-planning phones will be
staffed until 1:30 A M
Millennium Celebration
(Strcots ckwed)
— — MAX Shuttle
December 31
7 p.m. io J aan.
•“ ••••• Celebration Shuttle
December 31
7 R.m. to 1 u n .
6th Avenue Detour
December 29 te
January 1
TraeUt MaU
_ o — MAX station ramata»
open during Celebration
MAX station dosed
December 31
7 p-m. to 3 B.0L
New ideas and possibilities have been
an inspiration to us for more than 40 years.
Courage in leadership and com m itm ent to innovation are the hallmarks o f the
com m unity-based programs sponsored by the Philip Morris fam ily o f companies.
While our sponsorship o f the arts is well known, we are also the largest
corporate supporter o f hunger-relief programs in America, are dedicated to providing
assistance to victim s o f dom estic violence, and support education and
environm ental initiatives.
The people o f Philip Morris are com m itted to helping those in need,
and to supporting the visionary individuals and organizations
that enhance the q uality o f our world.
by public.
Bowerman. who was bom in Portland
on Feb. 19, 1911, is survived by his
wife, Barbara, and sons, Jon H.
Bowerman, Jay W. + Bowerman and
T om
B o w erm an , and four
grandchildren.
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New Y ear's Eve extra service
Every 15 minute^until 3 a.m.
Working to make a difference.
The people of Philip Morris.
KRAFT FOO DS, IN C .
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