Spirit of Prefontaine still burning
Posted Thursday, 2 June, 2005
BY Doug Kurtis
Free Press Columnist
While watching the Pistons' playoff game last Sunday, I was surprised when a Nike commercial was broadcast commemorating the life of Steve Prefontaine. Monday was the 30th anniversary of his death, which came in an auto accident while he returned home from a track meet party.
Pre, as so many liked to call him, is a legendary runner in American history. He held every American running record from 2,000 to 10,000 meters at the time of his death. He never lost a race at Hayward Field while running for the University of Oregon.
Prefontaine also was the first athlete to win four straight NCAA titles in the same event, the 5,000 meters. After he finished fourth in the 1972 Munich Olympics 5,000, many thought he would win gold in '76 at Montreal.
His records alone didn't make him a legend. Pre had a rare combination of talent, discipline, guts and an unabashed style that endeared him to many who saw him compete.
Pre once said: "Most people race to see who is the fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts." He is also remembered for saying: "To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
A book and three excellent movies -- "Pre," "Without Limits" and "Fire and the Track" -- have been made about his life. Several memorials have been dedicated to him, including in his hometown of Coos Bay, Ore. A road race on his favorite running trail in Eugene is held every September.
Prefontaine made the cover of Sports Illustrated at 19, in part because of the passion he brought to the track. He was a runner who liked to run hard from the start and was capable of handling a high threshold of pain.
"I like to make people stop and say, 'I've never seen anyone run like that before,' " Pre once said.
In its commercial, Nike describes him as a rebel. But all he really wanted was for runners to be treated with dignity. He fought with the AAU, then the governing body of track and field, to give amateur athletes better treatment.
Contact Doug Kurtis at Detroit Free Press, 600 W. Fort St., Detroit 48226 or dkurtis@earthlink.com.
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