Bill Bowerman is known athlete, coach, designer, and teacher. In his quest to give his runners an edge, Bowerman experimented with creating a lighter outsole and fashioned the modern-day “waffle” running shoe. He also created the American jogging phenomenon, which all the Americans should be proud of because jogging remains a popular form of exercise for men and women of all ages.
Background
Ethnicity:
His father was former Governor of Oregon Jay Bowerman; his mother had grown up in Fossil. The family returned to Fossil after the parents divorced in 1913.
One more interesting fact in the bioghraphy of this outstanding person is that he had been in the ROTC and Army Reserve, and then joined the United States Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the days following the Pearl Harbor attack. He was assigned to Fort Lawton in Washington and served a year there before being assigned to the 86th Mountain Infantry Regiment at Camp Hale in Leadville, Colorado. Along with the 87th Mountain Infantry Regiment, his regiment would become the 10th Mountain Division. Bowerman's duty entailed organizing the troops' supplies and maintaining the mules used to carry the supplies in the mountains. On December 23, 1944, the division arrived in Naples, Italy and soon moved north to the mountains of northern Italy. During his tour of duty, Bowerman was promoted to commander of the 86th Regiment's First Battalion at the rank of Major. Bowerman negotiated a stand-down of German forces near the Brenner Pass in the days before the surrender of the German army in all of Italy.
Bowerman was married Barbara Young on June 22, 1936. Their first son, Jon, was born June 22, 1938. William J. Bowerman, Jr. (“Jay”) was born November 17, 1942.
Education
He played in the high school band and for the state champion football team his junior and senior years. Bowerman first met Barbara Young, the woman he would marry, while a high school student, in Medford.
During his student life he was a member of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.
Also he ran on the University of Oregon track team in his last two years as a student at the college.
Career
After graduating from the University he taught biology and coached football at Franklin High School in Portland in 1934. He also worked for fourteen years as a journalist. In 1935, Bowerman moved back to Medford to teach and coach football. In the early 1960s Bowerman subsequently formed a partnership with Knight, to manufacture and market running shoes of their own design. The Knight/Bowerman partnership later became Nike, a company that ultimately became the most successful sports shoe and apparel company in the world. Renowned as a master tactician, Bowerman was the head coach of the United States Olympic track team at the 1972 Olympics, and among his runners at Oregon was the legendary American middle distance runner Steve Prefontaine. Bowerman also served as head track and field coach for the 1972 Olympic Team and played a leading role in Eugene’s successful bids to host the 1972, 1976, and 1980 Olympic trials.
Religion
"God determines how fast you're going to run; I can only help with the mechanics."
Politics
Bill Bowerman ran for the state legislature as a Republican in 1970, but was defeated.
Views
"The greatest improvement is made by the man who works most intelligently."
"The athlete makes himself, the coach doesn't make the athlete."
"A teacher is never too smart to learn from his pupils. But while runners differ, basic principles never change. So it's a matter of fitting your current practices to fit the event and the individual. See, what's good for you might not be worth a darn for the next guy."