How the Co-Founder of Nike Invented Jogging
It’s weird to think that jogging of all things had to be invented, but the reality is that before , a famous olympic coach and co-founder of , brought jogging to America in 1966, it was extremely odd and sometimes highly suspicious to see someone running down the road. Runners were often stopped, pursued, or even fined by police for their dubious behaviour, and , the other co-founder of Nike, recalls in his memoir that people driving by would wind down their windows and yell at the runners to get a horse. Running is now one of the most popular sports in the world, with approximately participating in some form of jogging in 2022 – all thanks to Bowerman.
In 1962, Bowerman took a trip to New Zealand and saw that Arthur Lydiard, the New Zealand Olympic Coach, had been encouraging runners who were retiring from competition to start ‘jogging’ to maintain their fitness. Bowerman was perplexed to see all sorts of people joining the jogging community, not just retired athletes. He joined them for a run one day and was smoked by the whole group, bar for one older gentleman who politely slowed his pace to stick with Bowerman. When Bowerman returned to the U.S., he was a jogging convert and became enamoured with the idea of sharing this phenomenon with his community.
The athletic coach partnered with cardiologist W.E. Harris to research and write a book outlining the benefits and mechanics of jogging. Knight recalls Bowerman telling him about the idea: ‘“Sounds interesting,” I said, but I thought my old coach had popped a screw. Who in heck would want to read a book about jogging?’ The answer: approximately one million Americans. Bowerman’s blunt explanations of the benefits of jogging sparked a running revolution, with compelling points including, ‘The fit jogger is not among the heart attack victims during hunting season’ and hectic chapters like Folks Who Are Fat. Knight writes in his memoir, ‘[It] changed the very meaning of the word “running”. Before long, thanks to Bowerman and his book, running was no longer for weirdos. It was no longer a cult. It was almost–cool?’
This new phenomenon also directly benefitted Nike (). Knight said, ‘I was happy for him, but also for . His bestseller would surely generate publicity and bump our sales. Then I sat down and read the thing. My stomach dropped’. Even though Bowerman literally invented the modern running shoe, he had written in Jogging that while the right shoes were important, ‘probably the shoes you wear for gardening, or working around the house, will do just fine’. Despite this candid blunder, the 100-page book on jogging still resonated with Americans and eventually the rest of the world – no doubt significantly bolstering Nike’s sales.
Whether Bowerman realised it at the time, he had not only completely revolutionised the recreational sporting world, but single-handedly expanded Nike's target audience tenfold.