You would never guess it but the history of the Puma shoe company is a dramatic one involving world war, Olympic glory and brotherly strife. The company began humbly enough. Rudolph and Adolf (Adi) Dassler, two brothers from Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, grew up with a father who worked in a shoe factory and a mother who ran a small laundry business. Rudolph left his little brother behind to fight in World War I. He eventually returned to Herzogenaurach in 1924 where he started his own shoe company with Adi called Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. This was the first incarnation of what would become Puma shoes. The brothers ran the factory out of their mother’s laundry business. They were said to use a stationary bicycle to generate power in order to run their equipment.
In 1936 Adi decided to drive across country to the Olympic Village. He had a suitcase full of spikes and a simple plan: convince American sprinter Jesse Owens to wear Dassler Brothers’ spikes during the races. Adi was successful, and after Owens went on to win four gold medals that summer Dassler Brothers’ athletic shoes were globally in demand.
Unfortunately, World War II was just around the corner. Both brothers joined the Nazi Party, but at some point during the War, they had a falling out. The facts are not abundantly clear, but the split between the two brothers may have had something to do with their different political viewpoints, or Rudolph’s belief that he was turned in to the Americans by his brother.
The result was that after World War II the brothers split the business. Adi founded the company adidas (from Adi Dassler), and Rudolph took charge of a company he dubbed Ruda (from Rudolph Dassler). Ruda was later re-christened Puma, like the South American panther.
Discord between the two brothers continued as each company fought for the sponsorship of different athletes. In one particular memorable business transaction, German sprinter Armin Hary agreed to wear Pumas at the 1960s Summer Olympics for a sizable fee. He decided against wearing adidas (which he had worn before) after adidas declined to pay the sprinter for wearing their shoes. Hary wore his Pumas during the 100-meter dash and was victorious. But he showed up to the medal ceremony in a pair of adidas. The sprinter was hoping to be paid by both companies, but Adi was so angry that he refused to have anything to do with Hary for the rest of Hary’s career.
Both brothers’ businesses are extraordinarily successful. Unfortunately, they never reconciled. They are buried on opposite ends of the same cemetery.
