Shane Parrish

Okay, he says.

Okay, Buck, okay.

So Phil thanks him and flees before the old man can change his mind.

He arrives in Japan in November of 1962.

The country is still rebuilding from the war.

He takes a seven-hour train ride from Tokyo to Kobe, packed against strangers.

He's going to meet executives at a company called Onitsuka, which makes athletic shoes under the brand name Tiger.

They don't know he's coming.

In fact, they've never even heard of him.

So when he gets there, he's escorted into this conference room with four executives seated around a table.

And they bow, and he bows, and everyone sits.

And then one of them asks, what company do you represent?

And panic sets in.

He doesn't have a company.

His mind races back to his childhood, to the blue ribbons he'd worn at track meets.

Gentlemen, he says, I represent Blue Ribbon Sports of Portland, Oregon.

Of course, Blue Ribbon Sports doesn't exist, but it will if they give him a chance.

The only thing he has going for himself right now is an unwavering belief in what he's trying to do.

And it's the same force that will create Nike.

The executives feel his conviction, and it's contagious.