Bill Bowerman

American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc., today the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment. Over his career, Bowerman trained 31 Olympic athletes, 51 All-Americans, 12 American record-holders, 22 NCAA champions and 16 sub-4 minute milers.

Bowerman disliked being called a coach, and during his 24 years at the University of Oregon, the Ducks track and field team had a winning season every year but one, attained 4 NCAA titles, and finished in the top 10 in the nation sixteen times.

As co-founder of Nike, he invented some of their top brands, including the Cortez and Waffle Racer, and assisted in the company moving from being a distributor of other shoe brands to one creating their own shoes in house.

A biographical film, Without Limits, about the relationship between record-breaking distance runner Steve Prefontaine and his coach Bill Bowerman was made in 1998, and Bill Bowerman was played by Donald Sutherland.

Bowerman married Barbara Young on 22 June 1936. Their first son, Jon, was born 22 June 1938. William J. Bowerman, Jr. ("Jay") was born 17 November 1942. Their third son, Tom, was born 20 May 1946.

Bill Bowerman died on 24 December 1999, aged 88, in Fossil, Oregon.