The Dark Origins of Nike's "Just Do It" Slogan

Gary Gilmore was born in 1940 in Texas and grew up in a troubled home marked by poverty, instability, and an abusive father. By the time he was a teenager, he was already in serious trouble with the law and was sent to reform school for car theft. As an adult, his crimes escalated, and in 1964 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for armed robbery. While incarcerated, he wrote poetry and created artwork, briefly earning a release in 1972 to attend art classes—only to reoffend and return to prison. In 1976, at age 35, Gilmore was paroled to live with relatives in Provo, Utah. Not long after, he began a volatile relationship with 19-year-old Nicole Baker. In July of that year, Gilmore committed two separate robberies on consecutive days—killing gas station attendant Max Jensen and motel clerk Ben Bushnell, even though both men fully cooperated. He later admitted that neither victim resisted and said he didn’t know why he killed them, adding that he believed he would have continued killing if not stopped. Gilmore was convicted of Bushnell’s murder in a swift two-day trial and sentenced to death. Just months earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had reinstated capital punishment after briefly ruling it unconstitutional in 1972. Gilmore refused to fight his sentence, firing his attorneys and insisting he deserved to die. His case drew national attention as civil rights groups worried his willingness to waive appeals could set a dangerous precedent. After multiple stays of execution and even suicide attempts while on death row, Gilmore’s sentence was carried out on January 17, 1977, in Utah. Choosing execution by firing squad, he reportedly said, “Let’s do it,” before the shots were fired. At 36 years old, Gary Gilmore became the first person executed in the United States in a decade and the first since the death penalty was reinstated. His execution marked a turning point in modern American capital punishment history. #GaryGilmore #TrueCrime #DeathPenalty #UtahCrime #FiringSquad #CapitalPunishment #1970sCrime #NicoleBaker #MaxJensen #BenBushnell #CriminalHistory #SupremeCourt #JusticeSystem #AmericanCrime #TrueCrimeHistory