Steve Prefontaine

Steve Roland Prefontaine "America's Greatest Distance Runner"
Born Steve Roland Prefontaine
January 25, 1951(1951-01-25)
Coos Bay, Oregon, United States
Died May 30, 1975 (aged 24)
Eugene, Oregon
Cause of death Car Accident
Residence Eugene, Oregon
Other names "Pre" "World"
Occupation Runner
Known for long-distance runner, Track and Field runner
Website
www.prefontainerun.com
Medal record
Men's athletics
Pan American Games
Gold 1971 Cali 5000 m

Steve Roland Prefontaine (January 25, 1951 – May 30, 1975) (nicknamed Pre) was an American middle and long-distance runner. Prefontaine helped inspire the "running boom" in the 1970's along with contemporaries Frank Shorter and Bill Rodgers. Born and raised in Coos Bay, Oregon, Prefontaine was primarily a long-distance runner who once held the American record in the five distance track events from the 2000 meters to the 10,000 meters.[1] He is known for his extremely aggressive "front-running" racing style. Prefontaine died at the age of 24 in a car accident.

Contents

Marshfield High School (1966–1969)

As a freshman at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, Oregon, Prefontaine found some success in cross country. With help from the Marshfield cross country coach, Walt McClure, he placed 53rd in the Oregon state meet. During his freshman year, Prefontaine established relatively modest personal bests of 5:01 in the mile and 10:08 in the two mile. Determined to improve, Prefontaine undertook a high-mileage training plan during the summer, and placed sixth in the year-end state meet.

His sophomore season was unspectacular, with the exception of the district cross country meet, where Prefontaine stayed close with the state mile and cross country champions. He followed up with a 4:31 indoor mile, but his fourth-place finish in that spring's district track meet failed to qualify him for the high school state meet in his primary event, the two-mile. He continued rigorous training at the end of the cross country season in preparation for track. However, his training might have been too strenuous because Prefontaine failed to qualify for the state meet.

Prefontaine's junior and senior years proved highly successful. He won every meet, including the Oregon states, and set a national high school record his senior year in the two mile race with a time of 8:41.5 (breaking Rick Riley's 8:48.3 from 1966) a record that would stand for four years until Craig Virgin broke the record by half a second and was quoted saying he was unimpressed he only broke the national record by a half a second whereas Pre broke the old one by 6.8 seconds.[2] Overall, Prefontaine set 19 National High School Records in track.[3]

University of Oregon (1969–1973)

Following high school, Prefontaine enrolled at the University of Oregon to train under coach Bill Bowerman (who in 1964 co-founded Blue Ribbon Sports, later known as Nike shoe company). Pre joined the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity as an undergraduate. After his freshman year, in which he finished third in the NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships, he suffered only two more defeats in college (both in the mile), winning three Division I NCAA Cross Country Championships and four straight three-mile/5000-meter titles in Track and Field.

Prefontaine was an aggressive runner, insisting on going out hard and not relinquishing leads, a tactic that his fans and fellow competitors admired. He was quoted as saying, "No one will ever win a 5,000 meter by running an easy two miles. Not against me". He would later state, "I am going to work so that it's a pure guts race. In the end, if it is, I'm the only one that can win it". A local celebrity, chants of "Pre! Pre! Pre!" became a staple at Hayward Field, a mecca for track and field in the USA. Fans wore t-shirts that read "LEGEND." Prefontaine gained national attention, and then appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated at age nineteen.

Prefontaine set the American record in the 5000 meters race, the event that took him to the 1972 Summer Olympic Games in Munich. In the finals, Prefontaine took the lead in the last mile and ended the slow pace of the first two miles. He held the lead until the last 150 meters before battling for first against Lasse Virén and silver medalist Mohammed Gammoudi. He lost a third place position to Britain's hard-charging Ian Stewart in the last 15 meters of the race, after having led nearly the entire last mile in a toe-to-toe battle with Viren.

Returning for his senior year at the University of Oregon, Prefontaine ended his collegiate career with only three defeats in Eugene, all in the mile. It was during this year that Pre began a protracted fight with the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), which demanded that athletes who wanted to remain "amateur" for the Olympics not be paid for appearances in track meets. Some viewed this arrangement as unfair because the athletes drew large crowds that generated millions of dollars. At the time, the AAU was taking away amateur status if athletes were endorsed in any way. Because Prefontaine was accepting free clothes and footwear from Nike, he was subjected to the AAU's ruling.

Post-collegiate (1974–1975)

He competed at one Olympiad, the 1972 Summer Games in Munich, when he was 21 years old -- two years younger than anyone else in the 5,000-meter field. Taking the lead with a mile to go, and holding it until less than 600 meters remaining, he ultimately finished fourth (13:28.25) behind Lasse Viren of Finland (first, 13:26.42), Mohamed Gammoudi of Tunisia (second, 13:27.33) and Ian Stewart of Great Britain (third, 13:27.61). Stewart passed Prefontaine less than 10 meters from the finish line for the final medal.

Following his collegiate career at Oregon, Pre prepared for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, setting American records in every race from 2000 to 10000 meters.[2] Unfortunately, Prefontaine was killed prior to competing in the Montreal Olympics. Coincidentally the young Canadian who carried the torch into the stadium on Opening Day at the Montreal Olympics was named Stéphane Préfontaine.

Death

On May 30, 1975, returning from a party and after dropping off friend and distance champion Frank Shorter, Prefontaine was driving down Skyline Boulevard, east of the University of Oregon campus near Hendricks Park, when he swerved his 1973 MGB convertible left to avoid crashing into an oncoming car 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. The witness found Prefontaine flat on his back, still alive but pinned beneath the wreck. After attempting to lift the vehicle, the witness ran to get help. By the time he returned with others, the weight of the car had crushed Prefontaine's chest, killing him.

Whether his death was an alcohol-related fatality remains controversial. His blood was tested posthumously by a mortician rather than by a medical examiner. Because the process of decomposition can create alcohol, Pre's blood-alcohol content may have been compromised.

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

Aftermath

By the time of his death, Pre held every American track and field record from the 2,000 to the 10,000 meters. Over his career, he won 120 of the 153 races he ran (78 percent). Prefontaine liked to say, "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gifts." Many years after his death, Prefontaine remains an icon to many.

Personal records

Distance Time Date Location
1,500 meters 3:38.1 28 June 1973 Helsinki, Finland [2]
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 8:18.29 18 July 1974
3 miles 12:51.4 8 June 1974 Eugene, Oregon
6 miles 26:51.8 27 April 1974
5000 meters (H.S.) 13:39.6 1969

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Steve Prefontaine". National Distance Running Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Steve Prefontaine Bio & Pix". University of Oregon, Official Athletic Site. Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
  3. ↑ Steve Prefontaine Biography - Biography.com

External links

Pan American Champions in Men's 5000 m

 1951: Ricardo Bralo (ARG) •  1955: Osvaldo Suárez (ARG) •  1959: Bill Dellinger (USA) •  1963: Osvaldo Suárez (ARG) •  1967: Van Nelson (USA) •  1971: Steve Prefontaine (USA) •  1975: Domingo Tibaduiza (COL) •  1979: Matt Centrowitz (USA) •  1983: Eduardo Castro (MEX) •  1987 – 1991: Arturo Barrios (MEX) •  1995: Armando Quintanilla (MEX) •  1999: David Galván (MEX) •  2003: Hudson de Souza (BRA) •  2007: Ed Moran (USA)
Persondata
NAME Prefontaine, Steve Roland
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pre, Rube
SHORT DESCRIPTION United States long-distance runner
DATE OF BIRTH January 25, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Coos Bay, Oregon, United States
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1975
PLACE OF DEATH Eugene, Oregon, United States