It was 1971. A running coach named Bill Bowerman was making waffles. As he cooked, he
Dirt running tracks across the country were being replaced with rubber ones. At the time, running shoes had metal spikes on the bottom so runners wouldn’t slip. But these spikes would ruin the new rubber tracks—and slow runners down.
Bowerman stared down at his waffles. Then he got an idea! What if sneakers had a bumpy pattern on their soles, like waffles? The raised squares could
Bowerman grabbed the waffle maker and got to work. He was about to change the future of sneakers forever.