Nike's Geoff Hollister Continues to Inspire

Steve Prefontaine and Geoff Hollister worked together
to promote Nike shoes in the company's infancy.

If quotes can sometimes inspire, the people behind those quotes most definitely do.

One of Nike’s original employees, Geoff Hollister, was regarded not only for testing early prototype running shoes and selling the brand’s early kicks, but also for his advocacy for running as a worthwhile endeavor before the running boom.

Hollister died in 2012 after a long battle with cancer. Around that time Nike dedicated a trail on the Nike campus to Hollister’s memory. A sign along the trail caught my eye recently and serves as a solid reminder of how our lives (and our running endeavors) inextricably involve others.

“It’s not about how long you live but how you contribute. It’s about doing your best and doing the right thing. It’s about recovering from your mistakes and not giving up. It’s about the baton pass to the new generation. It’s about the realization that you can not go it alone. It takes a team," Hollister said.

Hollister had quite a team. His early sales work was alongside running legend Steve Prefontaine, who helped build the grassroots support for Nike shoes among elite runners in Europe and America while Hollister himself focused on the Pacific Northwest. He joined Phil Knight in 1967, to help him sell Tiger shoes for Blue Ribbon Sports, the precursor to Nike. And he, along with Knight and Bill Bowerman, formed Athletics West, an American running team aimed at helping post-collegiate and elite athletes continue to perform at a high level.

Alberto Salazar winning his third New York City
Marathon in 1982. LANE STEWART/SI/GETTY

The many runners who donned the Athletics West singlet were my inspiration through the 1980’s – Alberto Salazar, Henry Marsh, Mary Decker-Slaney, and Joan Benoit-Samuleson, just to name a few. My team, my motivation, were the runners who were on the cutting edge of performance. And while most of my running was a solitary effort, the motivation, training, comaraderie, only came from the group -- the collective runners of the time.

I often pictured myself wearing the white and red singlet like the one Salazar was wearing when he crossed the finish line at the New York City Marathon -- three times a champion. It represented excellence in running to me. And the pictures of track athletes and marathoners in their Athletics West garb fueled many hours of training for me.

These days, I find similar motivation. The trail runners who are breaking new ground, through FKT attempts, or through time-smashing performances over long distances all inspire. The teams of athletes from Salomon who train around the world; the teams of runners in high altitude locales of Boulder or Flagstaff, who despite differing sponsors and coaches, share the spirit of their mutual effort daily.

But running can be a fickle mistress sometimes. All the motivation, group runs, breakthrough training techniques, and big-company cash flow can all be torn asunder without the individual having the wherewithal to get 'er done. 

As I researched his lifetime of contributions, what stood out to me about Geoff Hollister is that he understood the importance of both the group and the individual. He gave first and foremost to the running community, regular people who wanted run. At the same time, he also developed himself into a fine collegiate steeplechaser. As much as he understood the importance of giving back, he understood the deep desire of most runners -- to develop ourselves into the best we can be. Hollister may have been mindful of this when he said:

"May you have air in your lungs, life in your legs, have the wind at your back and wings on your feet."

Amen, brother.