In 1970, Bowerman was looking to create the lightest and fastest running shoes with a sole that could grip well on dirt, grass, and bark dust without destroying the track (via The Oregonian). "A shoe must be three things," he said, according to Nike. "It must be light, comfortable, and it's got to go the distance." In late 1971, the epiphany came in the kitchen as he saw his wife, Barbara, using a waffle iron the couple got as a wedding gift (via Popular Mechanics).
"It was one of the few (footwear-related) things he ever talked to me about, so it was kind of fun for me," Barbara told Nike historian Scott Reames, according to The Oregonian. "I picked out a couple pieces of jewelry and things that had stars on them, or things that we thought would indent or make a pattern on the soles. We were making the waffles that morning and talking about (the track). As one of the waffles came out, he said, 'You know, by turning it upside down — where the waffle part would come in contact with the track — I think that might work.' So, he got up from the table and went tearing into his lab and got two cans of whatever it is you pour together to make the urethane and poured them into the waffle iron."
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