CANTON, Mass. — Paul Fireman's two-decade career with Reebok International Ltd., which agreed this month to be acquired by Adidas-Salomon for $3.8 billion began at an industry trade show in Chicago 26 years ago.
Fireman spotted an impressive display of running shoes by Reebok, an obscure British brand bearing the name of an African gazelle. Fireman, then 35 and coming off some setbacks in the sporting goods business, bought U.S. distribution rights to the shoes for $65,000.
With the industry then cornered by the likes of Nike and Converse, Fireman's expectations were modest.
"My goal was to have a respectable, small, quality company where I could get my two or three weeks of vacation a year, and pay to send my kids to school," Fireman recalled in an interview at Reebok's headquarters.
He ended up with much more. Fireman parlayed his work ethic -- and a street-level approach to marketing research -- to turn Reebok into the No. 3 industry player, behind Nike and Adidas, and to elevate athletics apparel into high fashion.
With a wife and three kids, Fireman wasn't content just to pitch the shoes at trade show booths -- he filled the trunk of his car with Reeboks and traveled from race to race, trying to turn runners on to shoes that at $60 a pair were then the most expensive in their market niche.
Now, with Germany-based Adidas buying Reebok to better position itself against industry leader Nike, Fireman emphasizes the growth prospects from combining companies with complementary strengths. He also stresses Adidas' assurances that the Reebok name will remain and its 9,100-person workforce will largely stay intact.
But the 61-year-old acknowledges reluctance to sell the company he has presided over.
"There are emotional things that go on in your mind," Fireman said with his Adidas counterpart, Herbert Hainer, at his side after a news conference a week after the transaction was announced Aug. 3. "Right now, I'm not leaving much space for that."
Fireman's longtime friend, Bob Epstein, suggested the deal was more wrenching than Fireman acknowledged.
"I think part of Paul's soul will go when the company is sold, because he gave it breath, and life," Epstein said. "It will be very difficult for him to walk away."
Fireman, Reebok's chief executive and chairman since he bought out the British parent company in 1984, expects to continue leading Reebok at least through the completion of the acquisition by Adidas early next year.
