Nike Inc. ousted beleaguered Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe, bringing longtime executive Elliott Hill out of retirement in a bid to return the struggling athletic brand to its glory days.

Elliott Hill started at Nike as an intern in 1988 but steadily scaled its ranks, banking on values of grit and hard work ingrained in him as the son of a single mom in a working class Texas neighborhood.

Hill joined Nike after completing his graduate studies at Ohio University in 1988, having persistently pursued a company representative who had spoken in his sports marketing class.