Steve Prefontaine (January 25, 1951 – May 30, 1975) is simply the greatest distance runner in the history of Oregon track and field. A native of Coos Bay, “Pre” was the first collegian to capture four consecutive 3-mile/5000 meter gold medals at the NCAA championships (1970-73). He also earned three NCAA cross-country titles (1970,71 and 73).
Duck coach Bill Bowerman recognized this greatness watching Prefontaine rapidly develop at Marshfield High School in Coos Bay, going undefeated in cross country and track meets his junior and senior years. Pre re-set the Oregon high school mile and 2-mile records and broke the national 2-mile mark for prep runners. He ran a respectable 14:40 for 5000 meters in his first international meet before starting his college career and set a high school record for 3-miles at the 1969 AAU national championships.
The world would get to know Steve during his amazing four seasons at Oregon. He won his seven titles and his front-running style honed rivalries with other collegiate greats, particularly Gerry Lindgren of Washington State. He fit Bill Bowerman's cutthroat methods of training hard and racing harder. One of his pithy quotes was “Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it.”
Pre broke American records at 3000 and 5000 meters on the way to qualifying for the 1972 Munich Olympics but came up just short of the Gold when he allowed a slow start to the 5000 final to change his usual strategy. He returned to Eugene full of ambition to medal in 1976 and continued to be a dominant force at distances from 1-mile to 10000 meters over the next two years while battling the AAU for the rights of post-collegiate athletes.
Then came the night of May 29, 1975. Prefontaine won a 5000 meter race at Hayward Field and hours later, lost control of his car on Eugene's Skyline Drive and lost his life. Steve owned every American record from 2 miles to 6 miles (and metric equivalents) at the time of his death.
The legend and memories of Steve Prefontaine live on. He was inducted into the University of Oregon Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992 His life story was re-told in two separate feature films in the 1990s and the Prefontaine Classic track meet has been contested in his honor since 1975. His passing came just one week before the scheduled Bowerman Classic and the Oregon Track Club immediately re-named the event.
Memorials to Prefontaine are located in both Eugene and Coos B ay and the Marshfield High School track at Pete Susick Stadium bears his name.