Who Was Rob Strasser, the Man Who Changed Nike?

May 2024 · 10 minute read

Rob Strasser was a former Nike Executive who is credited with building the company into an international shoe and athletic apparel giant by introducing Michael Jordan’s Air Jordan shoe line. He was born in 1947 and died in 1993 at the age of 46.

Rob Strasser is known by many for the time he spent as an executive at Nike Inc., the popular American footwear and apparel corporation. Although his life was relatively short-lived, Rob was able to build a large portfolio in the business world and make a name for himself, which has since been sustained, even after many years of his death. Here is all to know about the man who reinvented Nike.

Summary of Rob Strasser’s Bio

Rob Strasser Lived 46 Years on Earth

He was born Rob Strasser in the year 1947 and died on 30th October 1993, at the age of 46. His place of birth is recorded as Milwaukie, Oregon, United States of America, while he died in Munich, Germany. Rob was born into a Christian American family. His birth name was Robert Strasser, and he went by the nickname Steal.

He was raised by his parents alongside his only sibling, a sister named Rebecca Hicks. The name of his parents is Robert Strasser and Marilyn Strasser. Further information about Rob’s early life and family history has remained undisclosed to the media. However, it is known that he is an American citizen and has a mixed ethnicity, although his ethnicity mix cannot be exactly traced.

Strasser received his elementary and high school education at some local educational schools and then enrolled at Willamette University in Portland, Oregon, where he studied law. Afterward, he bagged a JD Degree from the University of California Law School.

Rob First Practised Law Before Joining Nike

Just after his graduation, Rob Strasser moved back to his hometown, Milwaukie. He went home with the intention and passion to establish his own law firm, which he eventually did despite the challenges. Rob worked as a lawyer in Portland for the next couple of years, and during these years, he won several cases and was well-recognized as a lawyer who knows his onion.

In 1972, Blue Ribbon Sports, now known as Nike, filed a lawsuit against Onitsuka, a Japanese company. The company, which is widely known for importing running shoes, had partnered with Onitsuka to import some Japanese products. However, due to a breach of contract, the founder of the then Blue Ribbon Sports, Phil Knight, sued Onitsuka.

In a bid to ensure he won the case, Phil Rob hired Rob Strasser, and eventually, Blue Ribbon Sports won the lawsuit in 1974. Even though the corporation experienced management and audit challenges the following year, they were promptly rectified.

He Was Made the Marketing Director of Nike After Winning A Lawsuit For Them

Following the big win, Rob Strasser hugely contributed to Blue Ribbon Sports’ rebranding, which is today known as Nike. In fact, he was shortly named its chief marketing officer, given the major role he played in the growth of the sports brand. Following the company’s rebranding, Nike became an independent US shoe manufacturer.

Having gathered some experience in marketing strategies, Rob Strasser went on to brilliantly market the brand’s product, which gave rise to a massive increase in sales over the years. In 1978, Nike’s revenue exceeded $100 million. However, by 1984, Adidas and Converse began to dominate the basketball sneaker industry, while Nike had only a 17% market share.

Nike began to experience losses, hence, they started to lay off some of their employees. Ultimately, they decided to sign NBA star Michael Jordan, and Rob played a significant role in convincing Jordan to sign for Nike rather than Adidas. The basketball player eventually signed for $250,000 with the condition that he would have his signature shoe, which was the origin of the ‘Air Jordan’ concept birthed in 1985.

Deploying strict NBA rules in selling the products, Strasser penalized Jordan for wearing a shoe that was only 51% white, and he refunded the fine. Meanwhile, in just the first year of signing Jordan, the company sold shoes worth $162 million.

Why Rob Strasser is Dubbed The Man Who Saved Nike

Rob Strasser has to date, many years after his death, been considered the man who saved Nike as a result of his immense contribution to the growth and success of the company. When the company started dominating in the United States, Rob Strasser moved to the Netherlands to take over Europe.

As a matter of fact, he was made Nike’s marketing director due to his deep and keen understanding of brand identity, and his life, in general, proved how dedicated and hard-working he was. Rob strongly believed in the star power of individual athletes.

In a 1989 memoir, he stated, “Individual athletes, even more than teams, will be the heroes; symbols more and more of what real people can’t do anymore…” At the end of the day, this turned out to be nothing but the truth with Michael Jordan’s “Air Jordan” deal, which turned the company’s fortune around.

However, things did not remain the way they started, as Rob would later leave Nike. He left the company in 1987 after leading it out of a slump following the introduction of the Air Jordan shoe line; thanks to the marketing power of the NBA star Michael Jordan, As of the late 1980s, more than 65% of NBA stars were wearing Nike.

Why Did Rob Strasser Leave Nike?

After helping to build Nike into an international shoe and athletic apparel giant, Rob Strasser left it and moved on. Rob Strasser left Nike following a series of disputes with the company’s CEO, Phil Knight. As the day went by, he and Knight increasingly saw and understood things differently. In fact, Phil Knight, in his memoir, attributed Rob’s attitude to ego.

In his words, Rob felt he should no longer take instructions and orders from anyone, especially himself. “We clashed, too many times, and he quit.” the CEO stated. However, Peter Moore, Nike’s creative director, strongly disagreed with the CEO’s suggestions that Rob couldn’t take orders from anyone or aspired to run the company.

In his own report, Moore said that Rob’s personality was just as big as Nike itself, and that grossly bothered Knight. “Smart and talented people like Rob are never satisfied,” Peter Moore stated. He further expressed the fact that he and Rob knew they had put Nike on a strong path but still wanted to keep doing new things.

Rob Strasser never revealed by himself the actual reason he left Nike, and more unluckily, he is no longer alive to speak for himself now. He left alongside his colleague Peter Moore, with whom he designed the Air Jordan 1. Upon losing these two icons, Nike was disturbed that the former employees wanted to go with Michael Jordan, but that eventually did not happen.

Rob Joined Adidas Following His Exit From Nike

After leaving Nike, Rob Strasser and Peter Moore launched a consulting firm called Sports Inc., which would later help develop the brand of new companies. In 1989, the duo received an offer from Nike’s rival company, Adidas, and there, Rob served as the CEO of Adidas America. The aim was for them to help the company reinvent itself, and they did just that.

Rob took over the company in no time and moved it from New Jersey to Portland. He and Peter would subsequently develop Equipment and Adidas Originals built for exclusive purposes and essential for the athlete, which totally changed the company’s direction. However, this venture threw Rob into an ocean of work he couldn’t come out from.

He reportedly spent all his time working, and together with the stress and lack of exercise, his health started to deteriorate. On a certain day, while he was in a meeting, he started to feel something strange in his body and was quickly rushed to a hospital. He died soon after.

Rob Strasser’s Net Worth

According to several sources, Rob Strasser’s net worth was estimated at $10 million at the time of his death. Although this figure is not verified, it is quite believable that he was worth up to that and even more. Strasser first became a millionaire in 1980, and before his death, he had a stake in the multi-million dollar company.

Also, Adidas reportedly paid him $24 million when they wanted to bring him to them. While working at Nike, Rob Strasser is said to have earned about $150,000 per year. He decently profited from the company after it went public, and at 33, he was already a millionaire. Meanwhile, Rob did not only know how to make money but also how to spend it.

He was described as a fun, rich guy rather than a showy rich guy. Rob spent lavishly buying athletes and vacationing off the coast in party boats. He once threw an Olympic bash in Hollywood, hired Randy Newman, and rented a movie studio, which overall cost him about a million dollars. Strasser was also said to have severally gone over budget with his bar bills.

Rob Strasser’s Story is Chronicled in The 2023 Movie, Air

Hollywood star Ben Affleck released a sports film titled Air, which tells the fascinating story of Nike’s legendary sneaker brand, “Air Jordan.” The movie focuses on Nike talent scout Sonny Vaccaro’s firm pursuit of Michael Jordan to get him secured for their upcoming launch as well as create an exclusive shoe line for him. Like Vaccaro, numerous other Nike employees were also active in the pursuit.

At first, all the leading employees at Nike did not agree with the notion, but Sonny Vaccaro’s strategic and innovative approach eventually convinced them, and they all accepted and, in fact, fell in love with the strategy. In the movie, the character of Rob Strasser was played by Jason Bateman

Rob Strasser was not exactly known as a bold risk-taker but was known for his calculated nature as well as the ability to put together diverse opinions and adapt to the most suitable perspectives. So, he experienced a mix of intimidation and excitement when he heard risk-taker Sonny Vaccaro’s proposal of creating a shoe brand exclusively dedicated to Michael Jordan. He feared that if the strategy eventually failed, it could likely lead to the downfall of Nike.

Meanwhile, Rob’s personal and family life also significantly played a role in his worries over the situation at Nike at that time. He had been separated from his wife, Julie Strasser, and had limited time with his daughter Avery. He, in an attempt to have a closer bond with his daughter, gifted her Nike shoes to capture her affection and attention.

So, for Rob, the prospect of the company going down and him losing his job also meant losing the only driving factor that helped him sustain a relationship with his daughter. This grim possibility intensified Rob’s fear of taking risks. However, even in the midst of his inner doubts, he finally accepted to stick with Sonny’s plan and pursued sealing the deal with Jordan.

He was one of the people that played integral roles in finalizing the deal. The creation of the shoe line would later become the most lucrative decision Nike ever made to date. In reality, Strasser was the one who delivered a speech during Michael Jordan’s visit to the company. However, the movie Air deployed creative liberties by highlighting Vaccaro as the protagonist, while in reality, numerous individuals played crucial roles in the story.

Rob Strasser Died of a Heart Attack in 1993

Rob Strasser died of a heart attack on 30 October 1993 in Munich, Germany. He was survived by his wife, Julie Strasser, and their daughter, Avery Strasser. Many years later, his achievements and success, especially with the Nike brand, still keep his memories alive. In fact, the city of Portland is littered with Nike ex-employees who are always ready to pass on their favorite stories about Strasser.

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