Steve Prefontaine - The Saddest Day in Running
INTRODUCTION from The Sports Time Traveler
My lifelong friends Mark and Glenn, who were my teammates on the East Brunswick High School cross-country teams of 1979 and 1980, both reminded me recently that we were coming up on the 50th anniversary of the untimely and tragic death of one of America’s greatest distance running heroes - Steve Prefontaine.
I let them know that I’ve had that story on my radar since the start of the year.
The whole episode is still fresh in my mind - the gut punch, the feeling of absolutely being crushed, when one of my boyhood idols was reported killed in a car accident. I heard the news precisely 50 years ago today, May 30, 1975.
At the time, I was just 11 years old, but I was already a huge fan of track & field and distance running in particular. And I had been hooked on PRE since I watched him on TV, 3 years earlier, during the 1972 Olympics. Steve Prefontaine valiantly battled against the best in the world in the 5,000 meter final when he was just 21.
In the ensuing 3 years, Prefontaine dominated distance running in America like no one before or since. At the time he died, PRE held every American record between 2,000 to 10,000 meters.
I was SO looking forward to seeing Prefontaine compete in the Montreal Olympics in 1976, when at age 25, he would be perhaps the favorite to win a gold medal.
As a competitive distance runner for 40 years, I drew inspiration from Steve Prefontaine. He was the ultimate “guts” runner. He prided himself on running his opponents into the ground, defeating them by being the last man standing, by being the last to give in when the pangs of oxygen debt are screaming in your mind, imploring you to stop! I loved PRE. He was right there with me in spirit when I lost the World Masters Games 1500 meters in a photo finish in 2005, after I’d given it all I had.
As I remember Steve Prefontaine today, I’d like to share two things:
Steve’s state of mind in the spring of 1975
What I think was Steve’s greatest moment - the 5,000 meter final in the 1972 Olympics
SPRING 1975
I’ve traveled back in time to the spring of 1975 to check in on America’s greatest distance runner Steve Prefontaine. In these times, where a distance runners’ greatest glory is at the Olympics, and the Olympics still only allow amateur athletes, Steve Prefontaine is struggling. It’s impossible to make a living and be able to train at the level required to turn your body into a superhuman, able to compete at a world class level.
On March 28th, Steve had reached a breaking point according to an AP article. He was fed up with the way America treats it’s amateur athletes, providing no support as other countries do.
Since graduating from the University of Oregon in 1974, Prefontaine no longer had the resources of a university to support him. The idea of maintaining amateur status long enough to reach the 1976 Montreal Olympics seemed daunting.
In the AP article he was quoted saying, “If I decide to compete at Montreal, to make all the sacrifices necessary, I’ll be a poor man. If you’re not a millionaire, there’s no way.”
Steve told the reporter he wasn’t just bitter, he was, “Outraged. American athletes, especially distance runners are at a big disadvantage against the rest of the world. We’re expected to live by all the rules, like not being able to coach, but still train and make our own living.”
The March 28th article also contained some regrettable quotes allegedly made by Prefontaine in which he was ready to disavow his American citizenship.
A month later, in an article in the Oregon Journal, Prefontaine was distraught. He had been deeply disturbed by the AP article from the prior month. He told George Pasero, the Journal’s sports editor that he, “can’t understand what motivated one wire service to ‘pick-up’ a beautiful article by a Denver sports writer and sensationalize it so that it received big, black headlines in papers around the nation.”
The headlines were damaging to Prefontaine. One quote PRE was purported to have made was turned into headlines in newspapers around the nation, “To Hell With Love of Country.”
Pasero wrote that, “Pre has been cringing since, even ducking. He’s mentally bothered.”
PRE told Pasero, “I am embarrassed. I can see why people are upset… with those headlines… The Associated Press owes me an apology… for taking things out of context.”
PRE then attempted to explain what he had been trying to convey in the AP hatchet job article. He was describing the perilous, poverty-stricken existence of an American distance runner, “I’m on my own. I have no guidance, no help, but then I’m told… ‘we need you to run for your country’… I want to see our country’s national program improved.”
On May 4th, the New York Times published a letter to the sports editor. The writer was defending the poor treatment of Steve Prefontaine in the press. Here’s an excerpt, “Does Mr. Foley believe that while Steve Prefontaine runs, he doesn’t have to work to support himself. Perhaps when the landlord comes to collect the rent, Steve Prefontaine can give him a handful of press clippings in lieu of cash. Or maybe he can take a first-place trophy to the supermarket and exchange it for groceries. No, Mr. Foley, amateur sports and working for a living are anything but mutually exclusive.”
But perhaps PRE didn’t see the support that he had in the farthest corners of the country from his home in Coos Bay, Oregon.
Back at home, Pre had put all his effort into organizing a series of track meets that would bring athletes from Finland to the West Coast. The prize for PRE was lining up a match race against Lasse Viren, the winner of the gold medals in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meter runs in the 1972 Olympics, and the man favored to repeat in 1976.
In the Coos Bay World newspaper on May 8th, Pre told sports editor Dennis Anstine, “I feel very disjointed right now… I don’t know if I’m coming or going. I’ve been so busy trying to keep things together.”
Organizing the visit by the Finns had been more demanding than he thought it would be. But in spite of the stress, he went out and set an American record the next day in the 2,000 meter run in a track meet in his hometown, Coos Bay. His 5:01 time put him 13 seconds ahead of Finland’s Rune Holman. But Holman was not the man he wanted to measure himself against. The man he wanted was Viren, but getting Viren to come was becoming more and more difficult.
On May 21, the Oregon Journal reported that Lasse Viren had canceled his trip to run against Prefontaine. The article indicated that Viren had sent a telegram to Prefontaine informing him that he had been injured in a race in Europe.
Viren not coming to Oregon was a huge blow to Prefontaine. He had put so much of himself and his own money into organizing the trip. In the May 27 Portland Oregonian, Pre told reporter Leo Davis, “Losing him makes everything I’ve done worthless. He was going to justify all the work.”
Leo Davis wrote about the toll that organizing the meets with the Finnish athletes took, “Pre can’t decide which suffered more, his training schedule or his bank account.” Pre told Davis, “I’m in for quite a bit. With luck, I get back the expenses, but I can’t get anything for the hours of work.”
Davis then reminded his readership, “Frequently, we forget that Steve is 24 and expected to pay his own way in the world. Even amateurs must eat, although the AAU and NCAA and USOC pray daily they’ll kick the habit.”
Last night on May 29th, Pre ran a 5,000 meter race in an informal meet at the University of Oregon’s famed Hayward Field track. This was his “home track” when he was in college. He won the race in 13:23, just 1 second off his American record.
The next day, every paper in America carried the somber news of the car accident that took the life of Steve Prefontaine.
THE 1972 OLYMPICS
You can best celebrate the life of Steve Prefontaine by watching what I think is his greatest moment. He was just 21 years old when he competed the the 5,000 meter final at the 1972 Munich Olympics. He was not favored to win. Before the games, Boston Globe writer Jerry Nason wrote, “Pre is still a long way from being a physically mature runner. His best performances may be ahead of him.”
But PRE himself thought he had a chance. He was quoted in Sports Illustrated, “If I go out and bust my gut until I black out and somebody still beats me and I have made that guy reach down and use everything he has and then more, why then it just proves that on that day he’s a better man than I.”
You can watch the final mile of the race at the link below.
The time stamps below capture the highlights for quicker viewing:
0:00 - At the start of the tape there is 1 mile to go and Steve Prefontaine is in the lead.
1:00 - PRE still leads with 3 laps to go. Viren has pulled up to Pre’s shoulder.
1:30 - With 1,000 meters to go, PRE is still holding on to the lead with Viren tucked in behind him.
1:53 - On the homestretch with just more than 2 laps to go, Viren makes his move and passes PRE.
2:15 - On the backstretch with about 700 meters to go, PRE has dropped back to 4th and he looks cooked. But at this moment, PRE makes a bold move. He surges ahead and re-takes the lead with 600 meters to go!
2:50 - In the middle of the homestretch for the 2nd to last time, there are 450 meters to go and PRE is in front. Moments later, Viren surges and as the bell sounds for the final lap, it’s Viren in front and PRE in 2nd. PRE has run the last 1200 meters in 3:04. And he looks like he has nothing left.
3:16 - PRE is in 3rd place as they begin the backstretch. He appears to just be hanging on with 300 meters to go. Viren is still in front. And PRE appears to be finally, utterly done. However, PRE has the heart of lion, and he mounts yet one more furious surge. But so does Gammoudi of Tunisia. They both pass Viren. With 200 meters left it’s Gammoudi in front, PRE in 2nd, Viren in 3rd. No one else is close.
3:30 - On the final turn, Viren edges in front of PRE. PRE is fading and looks done again. But then PRE makes yet another attempt to surge. Near the end of the turn PRE is on Viren’s shoulder and appears ready to pass him.
3:42 - As they reach the top of the homestretch, Viren, channeling the legacy of the Flying Finns, kicks into a gear that neither PRE nor Gammoudi have.
3:53 - Meters from the finish, Viren has an insurmountable lead and PRE is giving it everything he has left. He appears certain to finish in the bronze medal position. But in the final 20 meters PRE’s legs give out and he stumbles home and is passed by Britain’s Ian Stewart and finishes 4th.
Viren has run the final mile in 4 minutes flat. Prefontaine’s final mile was 4:02. It was one of the great efforts of all-time.
After the race PRE said, “I know that wasn’t my best race. I know I’m better than 4th in the world. I’ll tell you this. If I can find a job that allows me to train, I’ll win a gold medal in Montreal (site of the 1976 Olympics).”
Jerry,
I appreciate your comment. I felt an obligation to put in a "Prefontaine-type" effort in crafting an article to honor him on this solemn day, 50 years after his life was cut short.
Len that was fantastic. I’ve somewhat followed Prefontaine’s history, but didn’t know much about it Didn’t know you were that much of a runner either I can only tell you that is a youngster. I could not run a quarter mile eventually I wound up running two marathons and they are two of the greatest things I’ve done in my life. I even hit the proverbial wall in the second one and that was a very interesting experience.