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11. 1971
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Shoe Dog, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Entrepreneurship, Experience, and Perseverance
Leadership
Global Economies
Balancing Family and Work
Summary
Analysis
To make Nike work, Knight knows he needs to do well at the National Sporting Goods Association Show in Chicago. The show is an annual event in Chicago featuring all the biggest names in athletic wear. While Knight prepares for Chicago, Onitsuka does the same. Leading up to the show, Onitsuka released a statement that it plans to acquire Blue Ribbon. The release baffles Knight, and he quickly assures his new partners that he does not plan to sell Blue Ribbon. At this point, Onitsuka still does not know about Nike, and Knight is doing everything he can to keep it a secret.
Onitsuka’s decision to release a statement about acquiring Blue Ribbon is another underhanded move that Knight does not appreciate. It messes with his attempts to make a big show of Nike in Chicago by continuing to associate Knight and his team with Onitsuka. Clearly, Onitsuka knows the name Blue Ribbon means something to their customer base in the United States, which is why they released the statement in the first place.
Themes
When Knight arrives in Chicago, he is upset. The shoes he received from his new factory are not as good as the prototypes he saw previously. He worries that the new shoe won’t sell and that Nike will be a failure after all. When a group of salesmen approaches the Nike booth, they appear skeptical at first. However, they quickly start placing orders, and Nike turns into one of the most popular booths at the show.
Because Knight and his team have to do everything on the fly, there are going to be mistakes along the way. Their new shoes appear at first like a costly mistake, but, as it turns out, their flaws barely matter to the salesman at the show.
Themes
Confused, Johnson walks up to the salesman and asks them why they bought the new product. He does not think it is up to snuff, and their confidence confuses him. The salesmen explain that they love Blue Ribbon because of their quality product, and they always tell the truth.
Nike’s success in Chicago quickly reaches Kitami’s desk. Kitami immediately contacts Knight and demands to know what is going on. Knight plays dumb and pretends that Nike is just a tiny offshoot, which will not interfere with Onitsuka. He also lies and says Blue Ribbon is not selling Nikes in their physical stores. After Knight gets off the phone with Kitami, he calls Bork in LA and asks him to take the Nikes off the shelves.
Knight’s lies are likely unconvincing to Kitami. Kitami knows Knight does not want to be a part of Onitsuka anymore, and he probably assumes Knight is starting a new line. Knight knows Kitami thinks he is lying, which is why he calls Bork and asks him to remove the Nikes from the store.
Themes
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Knight knows Kitami is in California and will go to see if he is telling the truth. Bork is hesitant, but he ultimately agrees to do what Knight says. However, their efforts are all in vain. The same day, Kitami storms into the LA store and forces his way into the back room, where he finds the Nikes Bork took off the shelf. A few days later, Bork quits working for Blue Ribbon because he took a new job with Kitami.
Bork is the same employee who was previously unsatisfied with his pay while working for Blue Ribbon. Evidently, his previous dissatisfaction with Knight and Blue Ribbon reached a boiling point, as he chose Kitami over Knight. In part, it is hard to blame him; whatever position Kitami offered him likely paid better and had more stability.
Themes
Days later, Kitami shows up at Blue Ribbon headquarters and demands a meeting. He tells Knight his contract with Onitsuka is over and demands Blue Ribbon pay Onitsuka almost $17,000 for shoes delivered. Everyone at Blue Ribbon is upset, and no one wants to budge. Kitami says he might reconsider if Blue Ribbon allows him to continue using Bowerman. However, Bowerman immediately rejects the offer, so Kitami returns to Japan. Given the events of the day, a legal battle is sure to follow.
Both Kitami and everyone at Blue Ribbon feel like the other party took advantage of them. Additionally, Kitami’s interest in Bowerman suggests that Bowerman’s designs were more fundamental to Onitsuka’s recent success than Kitami and Mr. Onitsuka want to admit. Of course, Bowerman will also be important for Nike’s success, and he would never work with Kitami over Knight anyway.
Themes
The next day, Knight gives a pep speech to everyone at Blue Ribbon, encouraging them to keep doing their best. He claims they have Onitsuka right where they want them and that they should think of the split as a form of liberation. Knight’s words return confidence to the office, and everyone gets back to work more motivated than ever before.
Knight does his best to be a good leader for his team. Even though he knows things look dire for Blue Ribbon, he needs to keep morale high if they hope to survive. This moment is a high point for Knight’s leadership following the low point of losing Bork.
Themes
To promote Nike, Knight sets his sight on the Olympic track and field trials, which take place in Eugene, Oregon. In addition to the running shoes, Nike starts selling T-shirts as a source of secondary income and to raise awareness for their brand. Ultimately, Knight gets a number of potential Olympians to wear Nike gear during their events, including some high-place finishers.
For Nike to survive after Blue Ribbon’s split from Onitsuka, Knight must ensure it is a recognizable brand. One of the best ways to ensure people know the name Nike is to get Olympic-level athletes to wear the brand. Luckily, Knight has connections, and Blue Ribbon’s reputation is strong enough that athletes naturally gravitate toward anything Blue Ribbon puts out.
Themes
The big event of the trials is a race between Steve Prefontaine and George Young, two excellent runners. Knight loves Prefontaine—whom he calls “Pre”—and hopes he will one day be a Nike athlete. Prefontaine is from Oregon, making him the perfect candidate. The race between Prefontaine and Young turns out to be a great one. Both men break the race’s former record, though Prefontaine ultimately triumphed.
Prefontaine is a name everyone in the running world knows, and winning his respect would be a great win for Blue Ribbon. At this point, Prefontaine is unaware of Nike and out of reach for Knight, so he will have to put off a collaboration until a later date.
Themes
The next major athletic event of the year is the Olympics, and Knight looks forward to seeing how Nike performs. However, early in the Games, tragedy strikes when a squad of masked gunmen invades the Olympic Village, kidnapping and ultimately killing 11 Israeli athletes. Bowerman is present for the Games because he was picked to coach the American team. However, the terrorist attack understandably ruins his experience and shook him to his core. Later in life, Bowerman will tell Knight that those Games were the worst moment of his life. They were a terrible tragedy from which he never fully recovered.
The masked gunmen were members of a group known as Black September, a Palestinian militant organization. Black September operated between 1970 and 1988 and considered itself a radical response to Israel’s oppression of Palestine. The attack led to a 34-hour suspension of the Olympic Games. However, most events still took place that year, though it was obviously a difficult situation for everyone involved.
Themes
After the sports world moves on from the tragedy of the Olympic Games, Knight sets his sights on athlete endorsements. His first deal is with Romanian tennis player Ilie Nastase, who was dominant throughout 1972. They settled on a $10,000 deal, which Knight does not like but feels is necessary. It hurts him to write such a large check, but he feels it is a significant victory over Kitami and Onitsuka.
Given Blue Ribbon’s money problems, a $10,000 deal is huge. However, Knight thinks it is necessary because, otherwise, Blue Ribbon will not be able to survive its rift with Onitsuka.
Themes
