NIKE CO-FOUNDER DIES AGED 88

Bill Bowerman, the former University of Oregon track coach and Nike Inc. co-founder, who made the first modern running shoe by pressing rubber in his wife's waffle iron, has died. He was 88. Bowerman, who coached at Oregon from 1949 to 1972 and remained on Nike's board of directors until last year, died in his sleep on Friday night at his home in Fossil, Oregon, said Nike spokesman Scott Reames. The fiercely competitive Bowerman was experimenting with ways to make a lighter, more flexible running shoe for his athletes when he invented the first lightweight sole in his garage using latex, leather, glue and his wife's waffle iron. In 1964, he teamed up with one of his former athletes, Phil Knight, to chip in $500 each and manufacture 330 pairs of the "Waffle-sole" shoes.