Steve Prefontaine

Steve Running (Internet)

Steve Roland Prefontaine was born on the magical day of January 25,1951. This day was the beginning of one of the world's best distance runners, and the best distance runner for the United States. He was born in a young town of Coos Bay, Oregon. Steve was not the oldest one in his family. He had two older siblings. His family called him ¨Pre¨ as a young boy and that name famously stuck with him.

Pre was never really good at sports. As a Freshman in Marshafield High he did find success on the cross country team placing 53rd in the state cross country. He also had a 5:01 mile as a freshman. Through everything everyone told him that he would never amount to anything, or "You're not good enough." He pushed through. After his freshman season in cross country he started a high mileage training program that led him to his great success in track. The following year as a sophmore he placed 6th at the state cross country meet. His sophmore year his training was his ultimate enemy not allowing him to participate in the state meet. His junior and senior year he was highly successful, winning every meet including state. During his high school career he set a national High School record in the two mile running it in 8:41:75. When his high school career was done he broke nineteen national records.

Pre always worked hard no matter what. If it snowed, rained, was windy or just plain too cold he would run every day. Many people can't do that. I know for a fact. I have tried but not made it. He had strenuous track work outs as well. One of his most famous workouts was his 18x400's. These were done at 30 seconds per 200. He always loved to lead the pack. Running out in front was his racing style. He believed in a guts race, by always going out in front, and if it came down to a pure guts race he knew he would win it. His racing career spanned only 153 races. Out of all those he won 120. For a distance runner he wasn't even at his peak.

Steve was a great inspiration to runners all over the world. When he went to college he won three NCAA Cross Country championships, getting third his freshman year. In track he won four straight NCAA 3 mile championships. He trained under famed coach Bill Bowerman who later founded Nike. Pre was their first Nike spokesman. At just the age of 19 he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He set the American record for the 5000 meter run while in college. He went to the 1972 Olympics with that run. He came in a disappointing 4th place for him. He got beat in the last lap, with third place barely passing him at the end.

When he graduated he set his sights on the 1976 Olympics. He also set American records from the 2000 meters all the way to 10000 meters. Pre, however, did not make it, after passing away hours just after his last race in front of his home crowd in Haywardield Field. After a Party he was driving home in his stylish convertible, when all of a sudden he flipped it. The car landed on top of him, crushing his chest. Someone stopped and raced to his aid. Unable to lift the lightweight car off him, the man raced to get help but was unable to get back in time. Pre died May 30, 1975. He was 24 years old when he died. When he died people called it "The end of an Era." His life has been made into several movies, and he has been the star of a documentary also. There is an event called Pre's classic held every year to honor the great American distance runner. This has been held since 1974. He still remains an icon, and idol, a hero to a lot of people due to his ability to push on further than ever before, showing everyone that he could do it. People always said he could not do it, he proved them wrong. Through hard work and dedication he showed the world he was at one point the best distance runner in the world. This and many other reasons make him my hero, and hopefully this year great things will come of me. "Stop Pre" will never be forgotten.