Pre: His Revolution of Running

The sport of Running took a surge in the late 1960s, when a track legend was born. This legend was Steve Prefontaine; he went by `Pre.’ Prefontaine’s style of running brought crowds out the track because it was thrilling and riveting, it held them on the edges of there seats. The sport of track was increasing in popularity by the lap. Prefontaine changed the sport of running forever and his presence is felt in every runner’s footsteps, even to this day. Steve Prefontaine was born on January 25, 1951 in Coos Bay, Oregon. Prefontaine lived in Coos Bay through out his entire childhood and adolescent days. His father, Ray Prefontaine was a welder and a carpenter. His mother, Elfriede, grew up in Nazi Germany and was a seamstress. Pre’s mother and father both spoke in German in the Prefontaine household, and when Prefontaine started his schooling, he was more fluent in German than in English. This made Steve a struggling student and an outcast at school, as Steve himself stated saying, “Kids made of me because I was a slow learner, because I was hyperactive, because of a lot of things” (235). Prefontaine’s childhood might be best described by Tom Jordan, the author of PRE: The Story of America’s Greatest Legend, Steve Prefontaine, who has this to say about Prefontaine’s younger days: “His youth might have seemed unremarkable, even idyllic, but he was a product of his time and his town” (5).  
    It was in Prefontaine’s eighth grade year when he realized that he was good runner. He found his gift of running through his junior high physical education class, where he was required to run in a conditioning program. The distances he ran in the program were a 1,320 yard race, which he completed in 3:51, and a 660 yard dash, which he ran in 1:45. Prefontaine had found his calling. “Here was something he was good at, where determination coupled with talent could bring recognition and reward,” Jordan says (6).
In the fall of 1965, Prefontaine started his freshman year at Marshfield High School. He went out for the cross country team and started out as the seventh man. As the season progressed, Pre became the team’s second man and finished 53rd at the Oregon State meet. For Pre, racing was simple. As Kenny Moore puts in his book, Bowerman and the Men of Oregon, “All it took was being able to stand the discomfort of pain” (235). The pain of races was eased by Prefontaine’s success. He went undefeated in his junior and senior years at Marshfield and broke the American record for the two miles, running 8:48.4 at the Corvallis Invitational.
Prefontaine chose to run at the University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon during his college days. The reason his chose Oregon was his high school coach, Walter McClure. McClure, a former Oregon track star, urged Prefontaine to choose Oregon over the hundreds of schools who were after him. One of the reasons Pre picked Oregon was Bill Bowerman, Oregon’s coach. Bowerman was legendary coach and had built Oregon into a running dynasty. Prefontaine built an intimate relationship with Bowerman, which helped him to annihilate while at Oregon. He only lost one race during his running career at Oregon. His only loss was during his freshman year at the NCAA cross country championships, he finished third. He won 7 NCAA title during his stint at Oregon. This success was precursor to the Olympics.
      It looked like Pre would be a lock for the 1972 Olympic team in Munich, Germany, but he had to go through the trials first. Some felt that Prefontaine would not be able to win the trials, “There was the feeling that if Pre was going to suffer his first defeat at his distance in Eugene (at the trials) […],” said Tom Jordon (51), the author of PRE: The Story of America’s Greatest Legend, Steve Prefontaine. The trials were held at his home stadium, Hayward Field, which is home to the University of Oregon Ducks track team. This home field advantage would help him as he would have the adrenaline of the crowd to guide him. Pre won the 5000 meter race in trials, not only would he win the race, he set the American record with a time of 13:22.8. Prefontaine made his final preparations for Munich, and he had to get rid of all the people doubting him because of his young age of 21. Prefontaine figured that the race would come down to effort and pace, not years of experience. Pre headed to Munich for the Olympic Games and first he had to run in a qualifying heat for the 5000 meter race finals. Pre had no trouble advancing as he finished second in his heat with a time of 13:32.6. Pre’s attitude going into the finals changed when the 12 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed by terrorist. This event terrorized and scared Pre. Also, the tragedy upset Pre because of the events themselves, and because he knew hit took all the focus off of him. The 5000 meter final came with much excitement. During the race, Prefontaine took the lead with a mile to go, but he could not secure it as he was pass by 3 other runners and finished in fourth place. Ian Stewart passed Pre in the final 10 meters the win the third and final medal. Tom Jordon says this about the final part of the race, “His momentum gone, Pre gather one more time for the final straight, but when he tried to call up strength for deep within himself, there was no response” (58). Pre was upset with his race, and didn’t talk about it much, to some fourth in the nation was outstanding, but to him winning was everything.
    The U.S. fans still showed wondrous support for Pre even though he didn’t bring home a medal from Munich. Prefontaine ran some meets overseas after the Olympics and he said that the fan support kept him going. After the Olympics, Pre had to make a living and make money. There was one problem though; Prefontaine was not being compensated for his race because of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). If Pre received money from races, he would lose his amateur status and would not be able to participate in the 1976 Olympic Games. Prefontaine was enticed by the International Track Association (ITA), which was a pro-circuit for track athletes. The ITA offered Pre close to $200,000 to run with the ITA. Prefontaine was receiving small amounts under the table; athletes who did this were called “Shamateurs.” Still this was not enough for Pre to make a decent living, so his kept his voice raised for the amateur athlete begging that they could make a decent living. He argued about how he was supposed pay the bills when he was told he couldn’t receive money.
    There was one way that Prefontaine did make a living and that was working for Nike. His used to his degree in communications from the University of Oregon as the National Public Relations Manager with Nike. He also became Nike’s first spokesperson. He received $5,000 for this job. The reason Pre was able to get these gigs with Nike was because the entrepreneurs of Nike were his former coach, Bill Bowerman and former Oregon runner, Phil Knight. Prefontaine helped Bowerman with the shoe design by testing out the shoes. Pre wore Nike shoes in his races, in the 1972 trials; Nike was still going under the name of Blue Ribbon Sports. Pre wore Blue Ribbon’s shoes in the 1972 trials. As part of his public relations job, Steve decided to mail Nike shoes to up and coming Runners. He mailed shoes to both Mary Slaney and Bill Rodgers. Pre is one of the reasons why Nike is so successful today.
    Steve Prefontaine died on May 30, 1975 in a car accident in Eugene, Oregon. The car accident was a cause of intoxicated driving. The sport of running lost a pioneer that night, but Pre’s spirit lives on forever. He fought for the amateur athlete and all athletes that could not pay their bills. Today, an athlete may be endorsed and make money off races and still participate in the Olympics, Pre helped changed that. Pre helped industrialize Nike into the athletic company that it is today. . He might not have won a medal in the Olympics, but he changed running for ever, he gave a running a renaissance, he brought in a new attitude to sport. Alberto Salazar describes Pre the best in Tom Jordan’s PRE: The Story of America’s Greatest Legend, Steve Prefontaine, he says “Pre inspired a whole generation of American distance runners to excel. He made running cool. He created the whole idea of training really hard and going for it. Runners settling goals for themselves, wanting to go all out and be really tough. That was his example” (55). Pre wasn’t just a runner, he was a revolution.