Brownie points if you knew the waffle iron and Swoosh go a long way back. It was the early 1960s when University of Oregon track coach Bill Bowerman cofounded Blue Ribbon Sports (BRS) with one of his runners, Phil Knight. BRS was a proprietor of Onitsuka Tiger’s athletic shoes before manufacturing its own product. Depending on who you believe, Bowerman customized running shoes using a waffle iron ...