Steve Prefontaine

Steve Roland Prefontaine
File:SICover StevePrefontaine.jpg 19-year-old Prefontaine on the cover of Sports Illustrated
Born	Steve Roland Prefontaine January 25, 1951 Coos Bay, Oregon, US
Died	May 30, 1975 Eugene, Oregon
Cause of death	Car Accident
Other names	"Pre" "Rube"
Occupation	American Runner
Known for	long-distance runner
Website	www.prefontainerun.com

Steve Roland Prefontaine (January 25, 1951 – May 30, 1975) was an American Olympic runner born in Coos Bay, Oregon. Prefontaine was primarily a long distance runner, and at one point held the American record in every running event from the 2000 meters to the 10,000 meters. He is considered one of the greatest American runners of all time, having inspired a running boom during the 1970s. He is known for his extremely aggressive "front-running" racing style and always believing in giving a full effort. Prefontaine died at the age of 24 in a car accident.

Marshfield High School (1966-1969)

As a freshman at Marshfield High School, Prefontaine initially found some success in cross country running. With help from the Marshfield cross country coach, Walt McClure, he placed 53rd in the state meet. Prefontaine ran a personal best time of 5:01 in the mile his freshman year. Determined to improve, Prefontaine undertook a high-mileage training plan during the summer. The plan was ultimately successful, and the following year he placed 6th in the year-end state meet.

He continued rigorous training at the end of the cross country season in preparation for track. His training was too strenuous and the overworked Prefontaine failed to qualify for the state meet. However, his junior and senior years proved highly successful, with Prefontaine winning every meet, including states, and setting a national high school record his senior year in the two mile race with a time of 8:41.5.

Overall, Prefontaine broke 19 National High School Records in track.

University of Oregon (1970-1973)

Following high school, Prefontaine enrolled at the University of Oregon in order to continue his running under coach Bill Bowerman, who would later co-found Blue Ribbon Sports, the precursor to the Nike shoe company. He joined the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity as an undergraduate. Following his freshman year, he went undefeated, winning three Division I NCAA Cross Country championships and four straight three-mile titles in Track and Field. "Pre" was then the best known athlete in Eugene, becoming a hero to all who watched his races. He was known for going out hard and not relinquishing the lead, a tactic that his fans and fellow competitors admired. The loud chants of "Pre! Pre! Pre!" became a staple at Hayward Field, a mecca for track and field in the USA. Many fans wore shirts proclaiming "LEGEND", which became a sort-of war cry for him. Other fans of his began wearing shirts proclaiming to "Stop Pre" at his meets. Prefontaine gained national attention, and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated at age 19.

He set the American record in the 5000 meter race, the event that took him to the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich. Prefontaine narrowly missed a medal there. He was passed with 150m to go and landed a 4th place finish despite leading nearly the entire last mile in a toe-to-toe battle with Lasse Viren. Returning for his senior year at the University of Oregon, Prefontaine ended his collegiate career undefeated in Eugene. It was during his collegiate career that he began to fight the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) which demanded that athletes who wished to remain "amateur" for the Olympics not be paid for appearances in track meets, even though they drew large crowds that generated millions of dollars. Bowerman, who also fought the AAU's restrictions, began calling Prefontaine "Rube" because of his naivety and stubbornness.

Post-Collegiate (1974-1975)

Following the University of Oregon he set his sights on the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, setting American records in every race from 2000 to 10000 meters.

Death

On May 30, 1975, on the return from a party and dropping off of a friend, Frank Shorter, Prefontaine was driving down a familiar road, Skyline Boulevard, near Hendricks Park, when his car, a gold 1973 MGB, swerved left and hit a rock wall along the side of the street. The overturned car trapped Prefontaine underneath it. The first witness on the scene, who lived nearby, heard two cars, and then a crash. When he ran outside he was almost run over by the second car. He found Prefontaine flat on his back, still alive but pinned beneath the wreck. Attempting to lift the vehicle off Prefontaine did not work, so he ran to get more help. Unfortunately, by the time he returned with others, the weight of the car had crushed Prefontaine's chest, killing him. He was 24 years old. An exact cause for the accident has never been determined.

Steve Prefontaine is buried at Sunset Memorial Park, Coos Bay, Oregon.

Aftermath

The death of Prefontaine proved shocking to many. The Eugene Register-Guard called his death "the end of an era." Whether his death was an alcohol-related fatality remains controversial. He was seen drinking beer at the party he attended before the accident occurred and at the time of his death his blood alcohol content was 0.16, six-hundredths higher than Oregon's legal limit at the time. However, it was a mortician who tested his blood rather than a medical examiner and the process of decomposition creates alcohol in the bloodstream.

By the time of his death, Prefontaine was an extremely popular athlete, and along with Frank Shorter and Bill Bowerman is attributed with sparking the running boom of the 1970s. His life story has been recorded in movies: 1997's Prefontaine; 1998's Without Limits; and the documentary "Fire on the Track". An annual track event, the Pre Classic, has been held in his honor since 1974. Prefontaine remains an icon, an idol and an obsession in American running.

During Steve Prefontaine's running career, he ran 153 races in total, winning 120, which equals to 78 percent.

Pre's Rock

Pre's Rock is one of the many memorials to Prefontaine. The Rock, located in Hendricks Park (Eugene, OR) has a plaque containing a picture of Pre with writing that reads:

Pre's Rock

For your dedication and loyalty
To your principles and beliefs...
For your love, warmth, and friendship
For your family and friends...
You are missed by so many
And you will never be forgotten...

The memorial sits on the site where Prefontaine died. Runners who have seen the memorial will leave behind items such as race numbers, medals, running shoes, etc.

Pre's Rock became the newest of all the memorials to Pre when it was erected in December 1997.

In Pre's hometown of Coos Bay there is a memorial different from the one in Eugene. It is a plaque-on-a-boulder style commemorative plaque featuring a relief of his face, records, and date of birth.

Personal records

Distance	Time	Date	Location
1,500 meters	3:38.1	28 June 1973	Helsinki, Finland
2,000 meters	5:01.4	9 May, 1975	Coos Bay, Oregon
3,000 meters	7:42.6	2 July, 1974	Milan, Italy
5,000 meters	13:21.87	26 June 1974	Helsinki, Finland
10,000 meters	27:43.6	27 April 1974	Eugene, Oregon
1 mile	3:54.6	20 June 1973	Eugene, Oregon
2 miles	8:18.4	1974
3 miles	12:53.4	1974
6 miles	26:51.8	1974

Personal quotes

• "To give anything less than your best, is to sacrifice the gift."
• "A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more."
• "A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways as they're capable of understanding."
• "I'm going to work so that it's a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it."
• "Someone may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it."

See also

• Pre's Trail

External links

• Prefontaine at IMDb
• Without Limits at IMDb
• Official website
• Prefontaine Classic homepage
• Guide to the Bill Bowerman Papers at the University of Oregon