Nike and Oregon State University Unveil Turquoise Basketball Uniforms in Honor of Native American Heritage Month

The Partnership Between OSU and Nike’s N7 Program Raises Awareness for the Need to Bring Access to Sport to Native American and Aboriginal Youth

CORVALLIS, ORE. – Nike and Oregon State University today unveiled new turquoise uniforms that the men’s basketball team will wear for the Nike N7 Oregon State Basketball Game presented by Spirit Mountain Casino on Sunday, Nov. 21, at 4:30 p.m. against Texas Southern.

The uniforms are the focal point of a unique partnership between Oregon State and Nike N7 that is focused on creating awareness for the need to bring access to sport for Native American and Aboriginal youth as a means to improve their lives and create positive change in their communities. The turquoise color of the Nike uniforms is a distinct departure from Oregon State’s traditional orange and black and is deeply symbolic of friendship and community in Native American culture. The game is the culmination of both partners’ respective Native American Heritage Month activities.

“N7 is about creating access to sport for Native American and Aboriginal youth, and I believe our partnership with OSU men’s basketball is an incredibly impactful way to get the word out,” said Sam McCracken, General Manager of the Nike N7 program in North America, at the unveiling at Oregon State this morning. “Basketball is the most popular game among youth on native lands. Our goal is create awareness—both inside and outside Native communities—for the need to inspire all youth in these communities to lead physically active lifestyles and be a force for positive change in generations to come.”

Nike has worked closely with Native American communities across the United States for more than 10 years to provide access to product and support for sport programs. Nike N7 GM Sam McCracken, of the Sioux and Assiniboine tribes, developed the concept for the Nike N7 program in 1998 as a way to provide inspiration and access to the brand to encourage physically active lifestyles. This summer McCracken was appointed by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Advisory Council on Indian Education and was sworn in earlier this month. Nike also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Indian Health Services in 2003, and again in 2009, as a commitment to continue to bring inspiration and innovation to Native American communities in the spirit of health and wellness; the company also has a memorandum of understanding with the Bureau of Indian Education in 2010 to create messages around healthy lifestyles.

The turquoise Oregon State uniforms, designed for performance and lower environmental impact, incorporate recycled polyester into each jersey and short produced from 32 water bottles. The jersey contains 69% recycled polyester equivalent to 15 water bottles; and the short contains 73% recycled polyester equivalent to 17 water bottles. The uniform also features Nike Elite Fit design which significantly reduces the width of the jersey for a contemporary silhouette and superior lightweight performance. . The uniform also features Nike Elite Fit design which significantly reduces the width of the jersey for a contemporary silhouette and superior lightweight performance.

“It is a little outside of the box for us, but it’s for such a great and important initiative,” Oregon State head coach Craig Robinson said. “I came to this because I was looking for something to support. Everyone’s out there, and this is no slight to the Coaches vs. Cancer or many of the other things that are out there, but I wanted something that was meaningful given my heritage of being an American and being an African American, and wanting to embrace that ethos of looking back and learning from your past and moving forward and adding to the footprint.”

OSU sophomore Joe Burton and senior Calvin Haynes joined Coach Robinson and Sam McCracken for the unveiling, appearing in the Nov. 21 turquoise uniforms, complete with Nike N7 HyperDunks, which will be for sale as part of the Nike N7 Holiday collection beginning Nov. 18 at stores across North America. Burton, who joined the team in 2009, is the first member of his tribe, the Soboba Band of Luiseno Indians, to earn a full athletic scholarship to a major university in the reservation’s 127-year history.

Single game tickets are $25 for chairback seats and $15 for upper level bench seats. Group tickets of 20 or more will be available for $5 per ticket in the upper level bench section at legendary Gill Coliseum and include a commemorative Nike N7 t-shirt for each ticket purchased. The offer is for phone orders only at 1-800-GO-BEAVS and must be purchased before Friday, Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. The t-shirts will be available for pick-up on the day of the game and shirt sizes will be distributed randomly.

Fans can also receive half-price admission to the Oregon State volleyball game against UCLA at noon on Nov. 21 and receive a Nike N7 t-shirt by showing their men’s basketball ticket against Texas Southern.

The first 500 fans to enter Gill Coliseum for the men’s basketball game against Texas Southern will receive a free Nike N7 t-shirt and the first 1,000 Oregon State students who enter through the student entrance at Gill Coliseum will also receive a free Nike N7t-shirt.

About the Nike N7 Program, Fund and Collection
N7 Program
Through the Nike N7 program, Native American and Aboriginal Health 0rganizations, centers and communities can access Nike product at reduced cost via nike.net to provide as inspiration for health promotion and disease prevention. The Nike Air Native N7, designed to the specialized fit needs of the Native American foot, is also available through nike.net. More than 360 Native American communities participate in the program. In Canada, there are currently 15 Aboriginal communities who are signed up through a pilot program that began in Sept. 2009. Communities can connect to the program at www.niken7.com.

N7 Fund
The N7 Fund provides grants and product donations to community organizations committed to helping Native American and Aboriginal youth unleash their potential through sport. The Fund is governed by a Board of Directors and reviews grant applications on an annual basis. The second grant cycle was completed in the Spring of 2010, with $340,000 in grants awarded to 18 organizations, including Bringing Back the Bow in Springfield, Ore., and the Native Wellness Institute in Gresham, Ore.

N7 Collection
The Nike N7 collection includes performance footwear for the general consumer and is designed with the environment and the future of Native American and Aboriginal communities in mind. The collection is designed with cues from Native American culture and embodies Nike’s Considered Design ethos. The intent of the collection is to raise awareness beyond Native American and Aboriginal communities for the N7 Program and the N7 Fund. The Holiday 2010 collection launches in Canada and the U.S. on Nov. 18, 2010 and includes the Nike N7 HyperDunk, the Nike N7 LunarSwift+, the Nike N7 LunarGlide 2, the Nike N7 Windrunner jacket and the Nike N7 Graphic tee. The Holiday Nike N7 collection can be purchased at Niketowns Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle; the Nike Store in Scottsdale, AZ; on nikestore.com, and at Nike Factory Store locations in the U.S. and Canada: Tempe and Tuscon, AZ; Cabazon and Camarillo, CA; Orlando and Sunrise, FL; Dawsonville, GA; Aurora, IL; Wrentham, MA; Albertville, MN; Santa Fe, NM; Las Vegas, NV; Woodbury, NY; Woodburn, OR; Allen and San Marcos, TX ; Pleasant Prairie, WI; Tulalip, WA; Edmonton, Alberta; and Oakville, Niagara Falls and Vaughan in Ontario.

NIKE, Inc.
NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly-owned Nike subsidiaries include Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Converse Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories; and Umbro Ltd., a leading United Kingdom-based global football (soccer) brand. For more information, visit www.nikebiz.com.