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50 free Nike trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
44 free Nike trivia questions with answers. Nike is a company built on stories: a track coach ruining his wife's waffle iron, a design student paid $35 for a logo the founder didn't like, a slogan borrowed from a death-row inmate, and a rookie's banned red-and-black sneakers that became a $5 billion brand. This quiz covers all of it, from Blue Ribbon Sports selling Japanese shoes at track meets to Air Max, Vaporfly and the Kaepernick campaign. Expect questions on the founders and their Oregon roots, the classic silhouettes (Cortez, Air Force 1, Dunk, Air Jordan, Air Max, Mag), the ads and slogans, the acquisitions and the controversies. About a third are easy enough for anyone who has laced up a pair; the rest will test a sneakerhead. Every answer has been checked against a primary source, mostly Wikipedia's Nike articles, and each question shows its citation.
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Q 01Nike takes its name from the Greek goddess of what?
Victory
In Hesiod she is a daughter of Styx who sided with Zeus against the Titans, so Zeus kept her at his side ever after.
Q 02Under what name was Nike founded in 1964?
Blue Ribbon Sports
It became Nike, Inc. on 30 May 1971; the founders were an Oregon runner and his coach.
Q 03Nike's two co-founders were Phil Knight and which University of Oregon track coach?
Bill Bowerman
Bowerman coached Oregon for 24 years, winning four NCAA team titles, and hated being called 'coach'.
Q 04Before making its own shoes, the young company distributed running shoes from which Japanese maker?
Onitsuka Tiger
Knight sold most of the early pairs out of the boot of his car at track meets.
Q 05How many pairs of shoes did the young company sell in its first year in business, 1964?
1,300
That first year grossed just $8,000; the company reported revenue above $46 billion in fiscal 2022.
Q 06Which kitchen appliance did Nike's coach co-founder borrow from his wife to make a grippy sole in 1971?
A waffle iron
The idea came up over breakfast; the resulting 'Moon Shoe' got its name because the tread looked like astronauts' lunar footprints.
Q 07Nike's 1972 'Moon Shoe' got its name because its waffle tread was said to resemble what?
Astronaut footprints
A pair sold at Sotheby's in 2019 for $437,500, then the highest price ever paid for sneakers.
Q 08Who designed the Nike Swoosh logo in 1971?
Carolyn Davidson, a design student
She was a graphic design student at Portland State, where Phil Knight taught accounting; the shape evokes the goddess Nike's wing.
Q 09How much was Carolyn Davidson paid for designing the Swoosh?
$35
Knight's first reaction was 'Well, I don't love it, but maybe it will grow on me'; the mark was registered as a trademark in 1974.
Q 10Runner Jeff Johnson, the company's first employee, is credited with what contribution?
Coining the brand name
The name reportedly came to him in a dream, beating alternatives the founders were considering.
Q 11Which was the first running shoe Nike released under its own name, in 1972?
Cortez
Named after the conquistador after 'Aztec' drew a legal threat from Adidas, it later became Forrest Gump's running shoe.
Q 12Which rival's threat over its 'Azteca Gold' shoe stopped Nike calling its first running shoe 'Aztec'?
Adidas
The name Cortez pays tribute to Hernán Cortés, whose expedition brought down the Aztec Empire.
Q 13Which 1994 film character gets a pair of Nike's first running shoe and becomes a famous runner?
Forrest Gump
George Costanza on Seinfeld also favours the shoe.
Q 21Nike's Air technology began when M. Frank Rudy pitched the idea in 1977. What was his profession?
Aeronautical engineer
His pressurised gas pouches in the midsole eventually became visible in the Air Max line of 1987.
Q 22Which designer conceived the Air Max after starting at Nike designing stores?
Tinker Hatfield
He also designed most of the Air Jordans and the self-lacing Nike Mag for Back to the Future Part II.
Q 23Nike's Air Max line launched in which year?
1987
The original 'big bubble' had a habit of popping in temperature swings and had to be recalled and reworked.
Q 14Nike's 'Just Do It' slogan was coined in 1988 by which advertising executive?
Dan Wieden
Advertising Age named it one of the top five slogans of the 20th century, and it is enshrined in the Smithsonian.
Q 15The ad man behind 'Just Do It' credited the inspiration to the last words of whom?
Gary Gilmore, executed killer
Gilmore reportedly said 'Let's do it' before his 1977 execution; the first ad starred 80-year-old runner Walt Stack.
Q 16Nike's North American sport-shoe share rose from 18% in 1988 to roughly what by 1998?
43%
Worldwide sales went from $877 million to $9.2 billion in the same decade.
Q 17Michael Jordan signed his first Nike deal in October 1984. What was it worth over six years?
$2.5m
That was three times any other NBA shoe deal at the time; Jordan Brand alone brought Nike $5.1 billion in 2022.
Q 18The NBA fined Michael Jordan for wearing the red-and-black Air Jordan I. How much was the fine per game?
$5,000
Nike paid every fine and turned the ban into its 'Banned' ad; the first 50,000 pairs sold out and made over $150 million.
Q 19The 'Jumpman' logo comes from a Jordan photo originally shot for which magazine in 1984?
Life
Designer Peter Moore saw the Co Rentmeester photograph and had Jordan recreate the pose in his Bulls uniform.
Q 20Which 1982 Bruce Kilgore design was the first basketball shoe to use Nike's Air cushioning?
Air Force 1
It became so common in Harlem that it earned the nickname 'Uptowns'; the white-on-white version is the biggest seller.
Q 24What was the 1985 Nike Dunk first called, because its colourways matched university teams?
College Color High
Its skateboarding variant, the SB Dunk, later gave Nike its way into skate culture.
Q 25The limited-run Nike Mag of 2011 and 2016 replicates a self-lacing shoe from which film?
Back to the Future II
The 2011 pairs were auctioned for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's research.
Q 26Which musician's 2009 Air Yeezy was Nike's first full collaboration with a non-athlete?
Kanye West
He revealed the shoe on stage at the 2008 Grammys before the deal was public, and later took the Yeezy line to a rival brand.
Q 27Where is Nike's world headquarters campus?
Beaverton, Oregon
The eight-building campus opened in 1990; a state law bars Beaverton from forcibly annexing it for 35 years.
Q 28Which Oregon star was Nike's first track endorser and its only athlete honoured with a statue?
Steve Prefontaine
He was Bowerman's prized pupil; a building on the Nike campus is named after him.
Q 29Nike bought which classic sneaker brand for $309 million in 2003?
Converse
By 2020 it was Nike's only remaining subsidiary after Cole Haan, Umbro, Hurley and Bauer Hockey were sold.
Q 30Nike made its first uniforms for a professional team in 1979. Which team?
Portland Timbers
The Timbers played in the old North American Soccer League; the first Niketown store opened in Portland in 1990.