Shoe Dog: Young Readers Edition

In Chapter 1, Knight divulges that his “crazy idea” emanated from a research paper that he wrote in business school at Stanford. In it, he theorizes that with American distribution, Japanese running shoes could come to dominate the market, just as Japanese cameras had done earlier.

Knight becomes obsessed with the notion of traveling to Japan to pitch his idea to a shoe company. He also becomes consumed with a desire to travel the world, but in order to follow these dreams, he needs his father’s approval and money for his trip. After getting a loan—and approval—from his father, Knight decides to invite his Stanford classmate, Carter, to join him. The pair buy one-way tickets to Hawaii and suddenly change their plans after arriving, deciding to stay there, even getting jobs and an apartment. Eventually, Knight decides it is time to get back to his plan, but Carter decides to stay in Hawaii. On Thanksgiving of 1962, Knight boards a flight for Tokyo alone.

In Japan, Knight studies Buddhism and marvels at how its philosophical underpinnings of nonlinear thinking relate to both sports competition and business. Knight then does some sightseeing and later meets with two American ex-servicemen who now operate a magazine about importing. They give him some pointers on how to do business with the Japanese, and Knight makes an appointment with Onitsuka, the company that manufactures the Tiger running shoe. In Knight’s meeting with Onitsuka, they ask what company he represents, and Knight blurts out, “Blue Ribbon Sports of Portland, Oregon” (35), because he is thinking of his track awards on the wall of his room at his parents’ house. He then proceeds to explain that the American shoe market is enormous and untapped and that if they can get their Tigers into American stores at a cheaper price than Adidas, “it could be a hugely profitable venture” (35). The executives ask Knight if he would like to represent Tigers in the United States, to which he readily agrees and asks for a shipment of samples.

Although Knight is excited to begin his business venture back in Oregon, he also still wants to see the world. He travels to Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Nepal, Kenya, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Italy, France, and finally to Germany and London. According to Knight, the highlight of his entire trip is Greece. In Greece, he stands before the Acropolis and sees the Parthenon and the Temple of Athena Nike. He argues that 25 centuries ago, the Temple of Athena Nike “housed a beautiful frieze of the goddess Athena, thought to be the bringer of ‘nike,’ or victory” (46). Knight arrives back at his parents’ house on his 25th birthday. 

Four months after returning home, Knight is still waiting on his shipment of samples from Onitsuka. In the meantime, he needs an income, so he meets with his father’s friend, Don Frisbee, the CEO of Pacific Power and Light. Frisbee recommends that Knight go back to school to complete the nine credit hours he needs for his Certified Public Accountant certificate rather than going straight to work at a corporation. Following Frisbee’s advice, Knight completes his coursework and gets a job with a national accounting firm, where he is paid well but works 12-hour days. In summary of the chapter, Knight wonders if the best moments of his life are behind him, if his trip around the world was his peak. 

In the first week of 1964, Knight finally gets a notice that his shipment from Japan has arrived. He races home, opens the package, and admires the shoes so much that he sends two pairs to Bill Bowerman, the legendary track coach who had mentored him at Oregon. Knight values Bowerman’s insight. According to Knight, Bowerman “[is] a genius coach, a master motivator, a natural leader of young men, and there [is] one piece of gear he deem[s] crucial to their development. Shoes. He [is] obsessed with how human beings are shod” (54). After receiving the shoes, Bowerman suggests that they meet for lunch the following week, during which he tells Knight that he likes the shoes and asks to be let in on the deal (59). They decide to become 50-50 partners in the deal with Onitsuka, but that is later amended to a 51-49 share because Bowerman does not want to be in charge and wants Knight to have “operating control” (63).

On the same day, Knight writes to Onitsuka and asks to be their exclusive distributor in the western US and places an order for 300 more pairs of Tigers. The order arrives right away, as does the response from Onitsuka agreeing that Knight can be its distributor in the West. With that news, Knight decides to quit his accounting job and begins selling shoes out of the trunk of his car. His early sales strategy is to visit track meets across the Pacific Northwest and talk directly to runners and coaches. The plan is so successful that “[he] [can’t] write orders fast enough” (68). He soon begins taking orders by mail and phone, and people who want the shoes even start showing up at his home. In less than three months, Knight has sold out. He orders 900 more pairs, which he purchases by securing a bank loan with the help of his father’s business reputation.

Knight decides to try selling in California, and at a track meet in Los Angeles, he talks to Jeff Johnson, an old college friend, who sells Adidas shoes on the weekends. He asks Johnson to instead work for him, but Johnson rejects the offer because he is getting married soon. Knight does not take the rejection to heart because “it [is] the first time [he has] heard the word ‘no’ in months” (72). When he returns home, he receives a letter from a wrestling coach on the East Coast who orders him to stop selling Tigers because he is Onitsuka’s exclusive American distributor. Knight immediately writes to Onitsuka for clarification, but when he does not get a response, he decides that he must travel back to Japan for a “showdown” (74).

Arriving in Japan just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Knight gets a hotel and phones Onitsuka to request a meeting. He is told that Mr. Miyazaki, with whom he had originally done business, is no longer with the company, but his replacement, Mr. Morimoto, will meet with him the following morning. At their meeting, Knight explains that he had been told that he was the Western distributor and makes a case about what he can do for their company if they allow him to continue. The following day, Knight gets word that Mr. Onitsuka himself wishes to meet with him, so he goes to the headquarters and is seated at a large conference table surrounded by executives. Ultimately, Mr. Onitsuka decides that the 13 western US states belong to Knight, while the wrestling coach can sell his track shoes on the East Coast. He plans to revisit the decision again in a year.

Elated with his successful negotiation, Knight decides to climb Mt. Fuji before returning home. He meets a pair of Americans and assumes that the man and woman are a couple as they all climb Fuji together, but he later discovers that they are siblings. He and the woman, Sarah, talk more and end up being together for two more days in Japan. Before leaving, he invites Sarah to visit him in Portland, which she does a few weeks after their return. Sarah stays at the Knights’ house for two weeks and visits again at Christmas. During her second visit, she tells Knight that her father does not approve of him and has forbidden her to visit. Knight then wonders if she really loves him or “just saw [him] as a chance to rebel” (89). After Sarah returns home, Knight notices a change in the tone of her letters, and she eventually tells him that he is not “sophisticated enough for her” (90). His sister, Jeanne, comforts him after his breakup, and in return he asks her if she would like to become “the first ever employee of Blue Ribbon” by doing some secretarial work (91).