Emerald
Steve Prefontaine, seen here in 1972, won seven NCAA titles in cross country and track for Oregon, and he once held all eight American
records between 2,000 and 10,000 meters. His legend bums brighter than ever today, after his death in 1975.
Pre’s legend lives
through history
■Steve Prefontaine’s
determination and desire for
victory have carried his legend
since his death in May 1975
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
This weekend’s Prefontaine
Classic marks the 28th consecutive
year the meet has been run, and
again it’s expected to live up to the
high expectations that its name
sake set for his own career.
Steve Prefontaine was a running
phenomenon. Describing his rac
ing resume as extensive would be
an understatement.
While at Oregon, the Coos Bay
native won seven NCAA titles —
including three in cross country
(1970, 1971 and 1973) and four in
the three-mile during the track sea
son (1970-1974). He graced the
cover of Sports Illustrated in June
1970 after his freshman campaign,
in which he set an Oregon fresh
man record in the mile with a time
of 3:57.4 as well as winning the
first of his three-mile NCAA titles
with 12 stitches in his foot from a
diving board accident.
At one point in his career, Pre
fontaine held all eight American
records between 2,000 and
10,000 meters and between two
and six miles.
Just before he was to go to Mon
treal for his second Olympics, Pre
fontaine was killed when his car
flipped over on May 30, 1975. He
was 24.
Prefontaine’s greatest asset was
arguably his intense desire to win.
“To give anything less than your
best is to sacrifice the gift,” Pre
fontaine once said.
Two major motion pictures, Dis
ney’s “Prefontaine” and Warner
Brothers’ “Without Limits,” detail
his life as well as a 1995 documen
tary narrated by Ken Kesey and en
titled “Fire on the Track: The Steve
Prefontaine Story.”
“Some people create with words
or with music or with a brush and
paints,” Prefontaine said. “I like to
make something beautiful when I
run. I like to make people stop and
say, ‘I’ve never seen anyone run
like that before.’ It’s more than just
a race, it’s a style. It’s doing some
thing better than anyone else. It’s
being creative.”
During his career at Oregon, Pre
fontaine was a crowd favorite and
rarely disappointed his fans. In 38
career races at Hayward, he lost
just three — all of which were in
the mile.
“Those people are fantastic,” he
said of the Hayward Field crowd.
“They’re my people, man. How
can you lose with 12,000 people
behind you?”
The track and field event that
has been dedicated to his memory
every year since his death is ac
knowledged as the premiere meet
in the country and takes place in
front of the largest track crowds in
the country. Part of the internation
al Grand Prix series, the Pre
fontaine Classic was the top-rated
meet outside of Europe in 1998,
2000 and 2001.
If the world-class competitors in
this year’s competition — like
Hicham El Guerrouj, whose world
record time in the mile (3:43.13) is
10.47 seconds faster than Pre
fontaine’s fastest recorded time —
derive any inspiration from Pre
fontaine, the Hayward crowd will
be in for a treat on Sunday.
“Somebody may beat me,” Pre
fontaine said. “But are going to
have to bleed to do it.”
E-mail sports reporter Chris Cabot
at chriscabot@dailyemerald.com.
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