Phil Knight came ready for Nike Running shoes his quintessential

Nike's Phil Knight sits for rare interview with Oprah Winfrey

View full sizeThe Associated PressNike's Phil Knight chatted with Oprah Winfrey on the segment that aired today.

Phil Knight came ready for Nike Running shoes his quintessential "Oprah" moment.

While he didn't come bearing brand new automobiles for the 400 members of "The Oprah Winfrey Show's" audience, he did bring cool stuff for each: a special pair of LunarGlide 2 running shoes and a Nike+ SportWatch GPS.

The gifts were presented at the conclusion of his half hour segment, but the Nike co founder and chairman already had won over the audience. His interview was essentially a half miler's sprint through the 73 year old's life without Nike free austrlia online much time to pause for breath. The exceptions included Knight's reflections on the influence of Nike co founder Bill Bowerman on his life and the death of his son, Matthew Knight.

Toward the beginning of the interview, Winfrey told the audience that Knight "basically changed the way all of us work out . he inspired us all to just do it."

Winfrey, in the final season of her talk show, also noted the challenge in bringing Knight to her stage. "It took my team a lot of convincing for him to be here."

Here are details of the special Oprah logo "LunarGlide+ 2 iD" shoes that each audience member was given:

The Oprah Winfrey logo is on the tongue

The shoelaces say Winfrey and Knight on each set

There is a picture of Oprah's favorite tree (the oak) on the inside sole

Knight told Winfrey he Cheap nike free run had dreamed of becoming a major league baseball player until he was 14, when he was cut from his high school team.

He migrated to track, where he excelled as a half miler and soon met Bowerman, the track coach at the University of Oregon.

"I had met him while still in (Cleveland) high school," Knight said, "and would chat with him at some of the high school track meets he would come out to. . He was, in simplest terms, the greatest track coach who ever lived."

Knight ran for Bowerman at Oregon, graduating in 1958 and then heading off to Stanford University, where he earned his MBA.

In 1964, Knight told Winfrey, he started Nike's predecessor, Blue Ribbon Sports, after seeking out Bowerman's participation.

"His response was instant," Knight said. "He said, 'Let's do this together.'"

With Winfrey's nudging, Knight acknowledged he might have sought out his former track coach for more than his business know how or ideas about shoe design.

"Maybe I got the company started just so I could stay close to him," Knight said, adding that after his parents, Bowerman was the most influential person in his life.

With a giant Swoosh logo hovering in the background, Knight quickly jumped into a description of the origins of the company's name and one of the most recognized symbols in the world.

With about 45 employees at Blue Ribbon Sports in 1972, Knight said, the company was about to make the leap and manufacture its own shoes. But it needed a name and a logo.

He credited Jeff Johnson one of Nike's first employees with coming up with the name derived from the Greek goddess of victory.

"I don't really like it that much," Knight recalled as his reaction to the name, adding, "I quite like it now."

And, he told Winfrey, he found the designer of the Swoosh Carolyn Davidson while walking the hallways of Portland State University's graphic arts department.

He said he overheard Davidson say she was short of money for a prom dress.

Knight stopped, said his company needed someone to create a logo and he could pay $2 a hour. He told Winfrey she worked 17.5 hours on the project so the bill came out to $35.

Not a bad deal, he said, but noted that when Nike became a publicly trade company "we gave her a few hundred shares which she has held to this day, so she's done pretty good."

Knight was dressed in what appears to be his own personal working casual uniform: black jeans, black sport coat with a subtle hint of checks and a black mock turtleneck. He did not wear sunglasses. As for footwear, he appeared to be wearing dress shoes, which likely were the Nike owned Cole Haan brand.

The program included a quick video tour of the Nike World Headquarters campus near Beaverton with a tone of adulation the gyms! the day care! the track! that had to have pleased the company human resources department. The tour included a brief stop at Nike top secret Sports Research Lab, which