Steve Prefontaine

A group of travelling athletes from Finland participated in an ‘NCAA Prep’ meet at ‘Hayward Field’ in the spring of 1975. Following the event held on May 29, where Prefontaine won a 5,000-meter race, the American and Finnish athletes partied. While returning from the party, after midnight, Prefontaine decided to drive his orange 1973 MGB convertible. The same night, he met with a severe accident while driving. He was declared dead before any medical help could reach him.

He was buried at the ‘Sunset Memorial Park’ in Coos Bay, and a memorial service was held at ‘Hayward Field,’ which was attended by thousands of his fans, friends, and well-wishers.

The gifted athlete, along with Bill Rodgers, Frank Shorter, and Jim Ryun, was credited to have inspired the “running boom” of the 1970s.

He was born on January 25, 1951, in Coos Bay, Oregon, US, to Raymond Prefontaine and Elfriede. His father served in the ‘US Army’ during the Second World War. Thereafter, he worked as a welder and carpenter. His mother was a seamstress. He had two sisters, Neta and Linda.

He participated in various activities since childhood and was part of the football and basketball teams of his junior high school.

While in eighth grade, he spotted a few high school cross-country team members practicing and jogging around the football ground. Later that year, his physical education classes made him realize that he was performing well in long-distance races. Gradually, he developed an interest in cross-country running.

In 1965, he enrolled at the ‘Marshfield High School,’ where he was trained by coach Walt McClure Jr., as part of the school’s cross-country team. His personal best in his first year was 5:01 mile. By the end of the year, he had climbed up to the second spot from the seventh spot and was ranked 53rd in the ‘State Championship.’

He remained undefeated during his junior cross-country season, while winning the state title. The ‘Corvallis Invitational’ witnessed him setting a national record with a time of 8:41.5, while in his senior year. He remained undefeated that season, in 1-mile and 2-mile events, and became the winner of two state titles.

Around 40 colleges across the US wanted to recruit Prefontaine. They sent letters and made phone calls, while their coaches visited Prefontaine to acquire him for their respective teams. He finally decided get enrolled at the ‘University of Oregon’ to be trained by famous track and field coach Bill Bowerman, who had coached Walt McClure, Jr. during his tenure with the ‘University of Oregon.’

Bowerman co-founded ‘Blue Ribbon Sports,’ along with Phil Knight, on January 25, 1964, which on May 30, 1971, became ‘Nike, Inc.’

The track and field stadium ‘Hayward Field’ in Eugene, Oregon, witnessed fans of Prefontaine chanting “Pre! Pre! Pre!,” whenever he participated in any event at the stadium. T-shirts of his fans often displayed the words “LEGEND” or “GO PRE,” and at times, jokingly, “STOP PRE.”

With time, he garnered national prominence and graced the cover of the November issue of ‘Track and Field News’ in 1969 and the cover of the June issue of ‘Sports Illustrated’ in 1970.

Prefontaine turned his attention to the forthcoming 1972 ‘Summer Olympics,’ which was to be held in Munich, West Germany, and started to train himself.