Geoff Hollister, one of Nike's original employees, has passed away at the age of 66 after a long battle with cancer. He was one of the “Men of Oregon” while running for University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman. In 1965, Hollister entered a partnership with Phil Knight, who had run for the University of Oregon in the fifties, and the two formed Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), a small Portland-based U.S. distributor for Tiger athletic shoes, according to the Oregonian.
In 1968, he formed Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS), a small Portland-based U.S. distributor for Tiger athletic shoes. After a three-year stint in the Navy, he returned to manage BRS' west coast region. In 1972, BRS ended its relationship with Onitsuka Co., the Japanese footwear company that supplied the Tiger athletic shoes, and began developing its own shoes under the Nike name. After that, Hollister ran numerous promotional tours throughout Oregon and the Pacific Northwest to spread the Nike name. Hollister would up developing Athletics West, through which BRS provided track athletes with coaching and funding for travel and competition, physical therapists, testing training, uniforms and part-time jobs.
Other highlights of his Nike career included sharing promotional responsibilities for Nike's Olympic Trials and Olympic Games efforts in Los Angeles in 1984. He also was involved in several notable Nike product launches, including the “Aqua Sock.” From 1997 to 1999, Hollister was responsible for re-energizing Nike Running's grassroots program, strengthening its ties to high school and college track programs, according to the Oregonian. That led to the development of the Bowerman Project in 2000, the year after Bowerman's December 1999 passing.
Hollister retired from Nike in 2002 while remaining a consultant.
He lived in Sequim, WA. with his wife Wendy, who continues to work at Nike as a senior project manager in Nike's North America Brand Operations.
