To honor what would have been his 60th birthday, TrackFocus presents Pre Week, Jan. 23-39. Seven days of untold stories and new interviews centered around Steve Prefontaine and his enduring legacy.
Steve Prefontaine was born 60 years ago on Jan. 25.
He died in a car accident nearly 36 years ago.
Had Prefontaine lived to 2011, what would he be like? What would he have done in those 36 years?
Here are some of the responses I’ve collected in the last week from some of the people who knew him best:
Tom Jordan didn’t know Prefontaine personally, but penned the biography “Pre!” and has been the long-time meet director of the Prefontaine Classic.
“Number one, he’d be a very wealthy man,” Jordan said. “He was industrious and had a mind for business and I think that would have continued.
“After the 1976 Olympics, I could see him running road races. He would have been bigger than Shorter or Rodgers or any of those guys. With his charisma, he would have been larger than life with the road crowd.”
Would he have coached?
“Possibly, but not as a career,” Jordan guessed. “He led the fight against the AAU, so I don’t thing he would have stood for NCAA oversight. He might have coached a couple of athletes, possibly.”
Politics?
“He might have dabbled in it, but I don’t think so. He was so honest. He would not have been diplomatic enough, having to constantly woo donors and things like that. He wouldn’t suffer fools gladly.”
Geoff Hollister was one of the original Nike shoe salesmen and a big-brother figure for Prefontaine. They shared a desk together in the first Eugene store to sell Nike shoes.
What would he look like?
“If he had Ray’s genes, he might have been great looking (at 60). Ray had great facial features. He had a very youthful appearance even when he became an old man.
“I also think, like a few of my teammates, he would have had a tendency to put some weight on. He did that anyway because of the way he was built. He was a bigger guy. But if he continued to run for his own health he could have been very fit.”
“He would have lost some of his hair. I would have guessed that. He was thinking about his hairline when he was alive. I think that’s why he started coming his hair down.”
What would he have done with his life?
“I could see him going different directions. Working with kids maybe. He did some student teaching at Roosevelt (school, in Eugene). He and I had coached jogging classes through the Decathlon Club, so he was willing to do that.”
What was his attitude toward work?
“He tried to make a decent wage off hard work. Money wasn’t what really drove him. I could have seen him teaching and coaching. But would it have filled enough of his ambition? I don’t know. He started working for us at Nike, but I don’t know how long he would have lasted with that.”
His role in track and field?
“Another avenue would be that he was more engaged with the governing body of track and field, trying to force those (amateur/professional) changes through.”
Pat Tyson was Prefontaine’s roommate in college, when they shared a home in a trailer park. Tyson knew Prefontaine as well as anyone.
What are your thoughts on Pre at 60?
“Sixty. That’s an interesting number. What’s cool about it is that Pre died 36 years ago and we’re still talking about him. Kids from this generation are enamored by him and so are some non-runners. I like knowing that someone in high school is influenced by that story.”
“Dellinger retired at 65, Bowerman at 62. Pre would be 60. You start throwing those numbers around and that’s the weird part when you think of it.”
Where would he be today?
“I think he’d be living in Portland. Eugene would have outlived its mission, I think. Portland might have fit a little better.”
What would he be like today?
“No doubt, the new 60-year-olds hold onto a high energy. He would, I hope, be fit. Balding somewhat. He was already balding when we lived together. He used to massage his scalp every morning and put lemon juice in his hair. He was concerned about that.”
“I think I would have went down his path. I went with the teaching path, but I think whatever he was doing, he would have brought me in. We know Nike was putting down roots and taking off. He didn’t get to experience the big take-off. He would have been into that. He would have had all the amazing stock options. One question is whether Nike would have been going in that direction if he hadn’t died.”
Would he have been a Nike exec?
“At the time of his death, Nike had some cool little shoes. But as impatient as Pre was, and the way he felt about bureaucracy, he hated bull(crap). He wasn’t going to sit back and say, ‘Look at me, I’m making all this money.’”
Would he have had an influence in 1980?
“I’ve got a feeling (the boycott) may not have happened if Pre’s voice had been around. On a Friday when Walter Cronkite ends the news and says, ‘In Eugene, Oregon distance runner Steve Prefontaine died in a one-car accident.’ That was the end of the newscast. If you had the power to make Walter Cronkite take notice, then maybe he would have had Jimmy Carter’s ear.”
Were politics in his future?
“Maybe as more of a special interest, lobbying powerhouse, fighting for people under his name. But there was no compromise with Steve Prefontaine.”
He had plans to open a restaurant.
“He always talked about that restaurant idea, ‘Sub Four,’ with pictures on the wall of Burley and Forman and Dellinger. What a great concept even today. It’d have all the legends. It could have been the coolest sports bar. It would have had ping pong, Frogger, air hockey. He was a gamer. He did not sit back and chill on a beer.”
Linda Prefontaine, Steve’s younger sister by two years, mentioned the void left in the family.
“No one really knows, but I’ve put some thought into what he might have looked like (at 60). But what I also think about is that he would not only have children, he would have grandchildren by now.”
