Out of Nowhere: The Inside Story of How Nike Marketed the Culture of Running

The context for my perspective: I share a first name not only with the author but also with his friend and colleague, Jeff Johnson (Phil Knight's first hire who came up with the name NIKE), from whom I used to buy Tigers, mail-order, in the mid-'60s; and with another of his friends, running guru Jeff Galloway whose first summer running camp, Tahoe Trails, I attended in 1975 ($10/day, all-inclusive - Jeff cooked the meals); and I attended all three Olympic Trials held in Eugene 1972-'80. With that background, "Out of Nowhere" was inevitably fascinating to me. I think that will hold true for others who were - or still are - hard core distance runners. Besides, the vintage photos alone are worth the full cover price. While I found Hollister's insider stories and his obvious total dedication to NIKE informative and absorbing, a few things puzzled me. Early in the book Hollister details at some length his relationship with his old coach Bill Bowerman, the legendary Oregon mentor and co-founder of NIKE. Hollister has enormous admiration for Bowerman yet the most vivid anecdotes he tells - of Bowerman peeing on his leg in the showers (others have reported experiencing this peculiar rite), of his not running Hollister at NCAAs despite his consistent top 5 finishes until brought low in the last meet pre-nationals by Bowerman-made shoes, and of Bowerman's calling Hollister to his office then ignoring him for a long period until he'd finished reading the newspaper - all appear to show Bowerman's most bizarre and controlling attributes. Also Hollister's publisher should fire whoever edited this book. The numerous writing errors (e.g.shifting tenses at mid-sentence) should be corrected if there is a second printing. The foregoing are minor quibbles. I came away with genuine admiration for Geoff Hollister. His dedication to building NIKE through working endlessly to build close relationships with athletes clearly was a labor of love for him - and also played a big part in swaying many from the "clutches" of Adidas and others. The personal stories are wonderful insights for amyone who loves this sport and its history. Geoff Hollister had a story he wanted to tell and he told it well. And he told it despite having to focus much of his energy in recent years on his battle with rectal cancer. That burden would have been excuse enough to fail to complete this endeavor. But such failure would not have been true to the values he took from Bill Bowerman and the other men of Oregon - values he clearly wishes to pass on to others.

Hollister's account of NIKE's origins, trials and tribulations, successes and failures make terrific reading for anyone who favors and enjoys knowing the 'inside' story of a company that's more an icon than a business.

This was a great book about what made Nike, NIKE! The perspective that comes through and is shown through Mr. Hollisters account are spectacular. The most amazing thing I got from this book was what was happening on the inside of the most prestigous and inovative companies that has come along in the 20th Century. Great Read!