Sports Management Podcast

Release Date: 12-01-2025 00:30

Welcome to episode 219 of Sports Management Podcast.

Today's guest is Joe Foster - the founder of Reebok. At 90 years old, he's sharing the real origin story for the first time. From hand-made spiked shoes to billion-dollar global dominance, this is one of the greatest sports business journeys ever told.

Time stamps:

00:00 Growing up during World War II
05:45 Winning races with spiked shoes at age 8
08:08 Grandfather invents the first spiked running shoe
17:00 Walking away from the family footwear company
18:49 Building Reebok inside a collapsed brewery
25:15 Creating direct-to-athlete distribution
29:32 Naming Reebok from a dictionary
35:15 First failed attempt entering America
41:08 Runner's World five-star ratings change everything
43:31 Birth of the Reebok aerobics shoe
46:59 Why Joe exited Reebok
57:10 Turning lawsuits into brand advantages
01:05:05 Joe's 3 rules of entrepreneurship
01:09:06 Meeting celebrities & reaching global #1
01:12:19 Why he wrote his book to correct history
01:13:00 Outro

 

Follow Sports Management Podcast on social media

Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube

www.sportsmanagementpodcast.com