The origins of Nike date to 1964 when former University of Oregon track athlete Phil Knight began importing Onitsuka athletic shoes from Japan and selling them out of his car. He named his one-man company Blue Ribbon Sports and soon brought on legendary Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman as his partner. Blue Ribbon saw increasing sales each year and opened its first retail store on the West Coast in 1966, and it expanded retail and distribution to the East Coast the following year. By 1969, Blue Ribbon posted nearly $300,000 in sales, but Knight found out that Onitsuka was looking for other American distributors. Because of this, Knight began manufacturing shoes himself, and his contract with Onitsuka was terminated. The Nike brand, with its familiar swoosh logo, was born in 1972 and debuted at the Sporting Goods Show in Chicago.

While Nike did not have a strong presence with athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, it did line up a major endorsement deal with Romanian tennis star Ilie Nãstase, the US Open champion that year and the French Open champion the following year.