Nike's Knight: $500M to cancer center

Published Sep. 22, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Nike co-founder Phil Knight already has shown his commitment to cancer research. The Knight Institute at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland had received a $100 million gift from Knight and wife Penny in 2008.

But now the Knights, like some of the athletes who wear Nike gear, are stepping up their game. They now have pledged an additional $500 million to the institute.

At a Friday night gathering for the cancer center’s top 400 supporters, Knight announced he and his wife would cover half of the $1 billion fundraising goal over the next two years as long as the institute can raise the other half from other sources.

“This was probably the biggest surprise of my professional life,” Dr. Joseph Robertson, president of the university, told CNN.

“This great step forward will result in new treatments and earlier detection.”