Inspiring story of Elliot Hill who started his career as a hardworking intern before working his way up to become CEO of iconic megabrand Nike

There's few people who know Nike's inner-workings from bottom to top better than Elliot Hill. 

After beginning his career at Nike as an intern, Hill, 60, promptly began climbing through the ranks. Now, he's preparing to settle into the coveted position of CEO. 

Last week, Nike announced that they would be parting ways with chief executive John Donahoe in a bid to shake things up at the struggling sneaker giant.

Under Donahoe's tenure, the company hemorrhaged billions of dollars in market value.

In a bid to restore Nike to its former glory, Hill was reeled back in as their new chief executive. 

Ahead of stepping into the role, he told the Wall Street Journal that the shoe company is 'a core part' of who he is.  

Hill began his storied career at Nike in 1988. At the time, he was a graduate student at Ohio University, where he was pursuing a degree in sports administration. 

For a class on sports marketing, Hill wrote about one of his favorite brands - Nike.

When he found out that Tim Joyce, one of the company's executives, would be visiting campus, he arranged for a meeting with him.

During his conversation with Joyce, Hill pleaded his case to be given a job. He didn't get an answer, so he hounded the executive for the next several months. 

When the day of graduation drew near, Hill tried contacting Joyce one last time with a desperate pitch. 

The graduate student told the executive that he would stop calling him if there was no chance of getting hired. 

If this wasn't the case, Hill said he would continue to call Joyce until he ultimately said no.  

The executive told him yes on a Friday, and Hill loaded everything he owned into his car and drove from Ohio to Tennessee, where he would start work on Monday. 

But when he walked into the company's Midwest regional sales office for his first day, he discovered that he hadn't exactly landed a job. 

Hill's new boss told him it was going to be a six-month internship. 'An internship?' he thought to himself. 

He accepted the unglamorous position, put his head down, and got to work. 

During his internship, Hill packed boxes in a warehouse and answered phones whenever the office was in need of customer-service help.

'I pretty much did everything they asked me to do - and then some,' he told the Wall Street Journal. 

Throughout his time as an intern, Hill was still paying off his student loans. 

'I never told my mom it was an internship,' he told the Fortitude FW Podcast. 'I told her I got hired.'

Soon enough, he did get hired, parlaying his internship into a position as an apparel sales representative for the company. 

For two years, Hill drove his Chrysler minivan around the country, visiting mom-and-pop stores in Texas and Oklahoma, where he sold Lycra. 

He was near the bottom of the company's personnel cart and remained in obscurity for some time. 

It took a decade for Phil Knight, Nike's co-founder, to learn who he was. 

But despite this unfavorable start, Hill managed to be promoted every couple of years for several decades. When Hill retired in 2020, he was president of Nike's consumer division. 

And recently, Knight spearheaded the move to make Hill the company's new CEO. 

By doing so, Nike hopes to revive their business. Under former CEO Donahoe, the company made a series of blunders. 

As the WSJ notes, Nike made the mistake of favoring e-commerce instead of retail stores. The company has also suffered from rife competition, unimpressive sales, and poor morale. 

Before taking over the helm at Nike, Donahoe had spent most of his career at Bain, where he served as CEO. He later left Bain to work important jobs at eBay and ServiceNow. 

About five years ago, he switched from software to shoes, assuming control of Nike, where he had previously been a board member. 

The company now hopes to draw on Hill's experience, institutional knowledge, and passion, which is so intense that he cries when he discusses how much the brand means to him.   

With Hill, Nike aims to usher in an important transition period. Ursula Burns, who began as an intern at Xerox before working her way up to CEO, told WSJ that it's critical to have someone like Hill during such times.

'If you're going through a transition in the company,' she said, 'having someone who understands the heart and soul of the place is valuable.'