Sandy Bodecker, a long-time Nike employee credited with bringing the Nike SB label to prominence and recently leading the Breaking project, has passed away.
He had been suffering a long battle with throat cancer.
Bodecker joined Nike in 1982 as a footwear wear-test coordinator and eventually went on to lead Nike’s first Global Football business, then to start its Action Sports business and serve as its first head of global design.
He presided over Nike Skateboarding since 2002. “His take on the classic Dunk, reinvented with fat tongues and Zoom Air cushioning, paved the way for collaborations with Supreme and Zoo York as well as colorways by the pros, all of which sparked a niche that played one of the biggest roles in the creation of sneaker culture as we know it today,” wrote sneakernews.com.
Bodecker was named VP of Special Projects in 2012 and most recently was best known for spearheading Breaking2, the moonshot project dedicated to breaking the sub-two-hour marathon.
“The amount of data and insights we are able to collect and the experience gained from these efforts will provide us with years of innovation territories to explore and invent around,” Bodecker said in a Nike profile last year, “which ultimately leads to better products and services for athletes of all abilities.”
The Breaking2 initiative supported the development of the brand’s Vaporfly and Zoom Fly running footwear technologies.
Nike SB paid tribute to Bodecker in an Instagram post.
Photo courtesy Nike
