Meet the American who designed the modern sneaker and co-founded Nike: Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman

Bill Bowerman, one of the country's best track coaches, inspired the 1970s running craze and co-founded Nike.

Legendary University of Oregon track and field coach Bill Bowerman molded world-class athletes — and molded the world’s first modern sneakers as well. 

"Bowerman, inhaling the land, seemed in leathery profile to have been through some sort of mythic struggle," wrote former Oregon athlete Kenny Moore of the driven leader, a World War II veteran, in his 2006 book, "Bowerman and the Men of Oregon."

"His own competitiveness was barely containable," Moore also wrote.

Seeking an edge for his athletes, Coach Bowerman melted and shaped rubber soles with his family’s waffle iron in his home workshop, looking to create a new form of footwear: a lighter, faster and more supportive shoe for his athletes.

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He was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014 as the creator of the modern athletic shoe.

University of Oregon track and field legend Bill Bowerman (at left) coached 24 NCAA individual champs, 33 Olympic competitors and 64 All-Americans, according to the NCAA. His teams own four national championships.  (Courtesy University of Oregon)

His inventions gave rise to Blue Ribbon Sports, the company he co-founded in 1964 with one of his former Oregon athletes, Phil Knight. 

It’s now a colossus of global consumer brands. 

Their company is known as Nike. 

"Bowerman was tenacious as hell," Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and Museum curator Jack Elder told Fox News Digital. 

"His own competitiveness was barely containable." — Bowerman biographer Kenny Moore

"He had personal drive, curiosity, attention to detail and a willingness to develop both