A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Finance, Jerry Turner was a leading business executive and transformative product innovator in the footwear business. As President of Brooks Athletic Shoe Company (also known as Brooks Running Shoes) in the 1960s and 1970s, Turner helped build the company into a household name, rising to one of America’s top three selling brands. Jerry’s unique athletic shoe design techniques included introducing the first shoe to use ethyl vinyl acetate (EVA), an air- infused foam that replaced rubber and became a mainstay of running shoes throughout the industry. Some of the other technologies introduced during his tenure that became industry standards that are still in use today include shock absorbing midsoles, removable sock liners, Gore Tex, dual density EVA. Following his tenure at Brooks, he and his wife Margaret Oung founded American Sporting Goods Corporation, which developed the Turntec brand of running shoes and the Nevados line of hiking shoes. Over time, the Company acquired the Avia, And1, and Ryka brands. In 2011, Turner sold the company to Brown Shoe Company of St. Louis, Missouri. He was inducted into the National Sporting Goods Hall of Fame in 2004 as well as the Fashion Footwear Hall of Fame. Turner remained dedicated to his alma maters and endowed an annual scholarship to be awarded to an Omaha Central High School graduate to attend the University of Pennsylvania.
Jerry passed away in 2019 at the age of 84.