The Power of Phil Knight (Pioneer Campus Entrepreneur)

Before there was Kevin Plank and Under Armour — Phil Knight was using his learnings, contacts, and education from Oregon and Stanford to launch Nike (originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports). Knight and Nike’s staying power can be witnessed by the recent controversy surrounding Marcus Jordan (son of Michael and Juanita), the University of Central Florida, and Adidas.

Basically, Marcus is an 18 year old basketball player at UCF and refuses to wear any shoe other than Air Jordans (produced by Phil Knight’s Nike). UCF has an apparel and shoe contract with Adidas and as long as Jordan wears the his dad’s shoes, the school is in breach of the contract.

The most recent update is that Jordan won’t budge and he wore the Nike shoes during UCF’s first game. Adidas is therefore not going to pay UCF. The school stands to lose $3 million.

BTW, Marcus Jordan scored 1 point in the opening game, he was 0-3 from the field and 1-2 at the free throw line. He played 23 minutes.