It’s the Nike billionaire versus the man who made him one.
The second Final Four game Saturday in the desert has an interesting sub plot. Not only is it Oregon versus Carolina, but also Nike founder Phil Knight against the basketball GOAT, Michael Jordan. MJ, The kid from Carolina who pulled Nike from near bankruptcy and made it the athletic shoe, apparel and equipment giant.
Every time you see an Oregon football or basketball team decked out in Ducks yellow and green, it’s the work of their biggest benefactor, Nike and Knight. The 79-year business magnate from Cleveland attended Oregon and Stanford Business School and never left the West Coast. He was a track athlete of little note but had the idea that track shoes needed a serious upgrading; he sold them out of his car, began Nike and gradually moved into basketball shoes when they were coming into vogue in the late ‘70s and ‘80s.
Nike was not doing well, about to run out of money when Jordan was the third pick in the 1984 draft and was thrown into a bidding war for his endorsement between Adidas, Nike, Puma, Converse and any other company that made kicks in those days. Jordan’s agent, David Falk, wanted to have a shoe not only endorsed by Jordan but NAMED for Michael. Nike agreed. The Air Jordan brand was born, and almost 20 years after MJ retired from playing, he is still the wealthiest athlete in the world.
Knight will be sitting with the Ducks contingent, and hopefully Jordan will be behind the UNC bench like he was for the NCAA championship game in Houston last year. When he announced the Jumpman partnership with Tar Heel football at halftime of the Carolina-Duke game this season, he watched the second half from the stands and cheered the Heels while giving the refs a hard time.
As national TV will do, Knight and Jordan will get plenty of air time if they are in their respective rooting sections and not hiding away in luxury suites somewhere. I don’t know about Knight, but those private boxes are usually too far away from the action for Jordan, and if he is at U of Phoenix Stadium, he will be with his former teammates decked out in Carolina Blue.
That’s one back story of the prime time semifinal Saturday. The man who made it big making shoes, and the man who made it bigger wearing and selling them.
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