Prefontaine and the Civil War

Cool story

Damn. I thought someone was saying that Pre and U.S. Grant were drinking buddies.

Nice story to read today, on the 60th anniversary of Pre's birth.

Great read. Thanks.

Very cool story, thanks.

Great read. Thanks.

This came from my friend, Dave Wainwright, who organized the event.

Doug,

I was in the van the Friday night before the Civil War. It was dark. We tried to keep runners in our headlights but this was not always possible. For some reason we shared shuttle vans, so we were dropping off and picking up various Duck and Beaver runners, and at any one time the van was filled with both orange and black and testosterone.

As the evening wore on there was a definite sense of elevated competition and clearly I understood that an attempt would be made to use Pre. Up to that point we had been using washed out high-school runners who had seen my adds in the Barometer (OSU paper), looking for anybody who could run around a 5 minute mile. I may have used 5 minutes as a cut-off. I actually remember doing interviews. The races were organized and managed by the sophomore class presidents from each school. You could probably find the other guy. We didn't like each other. We were supposed to raise money through sponsorships but I was too incompetent.

My memory says that, upon hearing that the Duck boys were planning a big Saturday, I went to my buddies on the OSU track team (Bow Seltzer, intermediates and Mike Jones, lows) and appealed for stud milers. This could also have happened days before and we were loose-lipped in the van and the Ducks were tipped off...

I worked my ass off on the project, including all the transportation and State police cover on 99, all the game day arrangements including PA, and the marching bands and athletic department. Lots of stuff fell through the cracks, I understand. I was so exhausted I slept through the game. The trophy presentation was made by the biggest hippie I could find, an RA from Weatherford Hall by the name of O'Connell, I believe. For some reason I thought it would be funny if in the middle of this stadium filled with competition a scraggly hippie had center stage for a moment. I'll never know if it worked. Yours, Dave Wainwright

Some additional insight from my friend, Dave.

First of all, how I came up with "lows" can only be attributed to the similarity of 110 and low, and my old age. Don't tell Mike Jones. He is about 1/2 inch shorter than me and Bow and a little sensitive. He turned out to be a damn good track coach at Southern Oregon. Look it up. I saw him run his best race at Hayward State, 1975.

Yes, I was sophomore class president. Won by 7 votes. Campaigned at sorority houses with my friend Bow who was and is a stallion and I think the girls thought they were voting for him. At least 7 did.

Must have had mid-terms and papers due on top of the Great Race so made all the arrangements for Saturday and then passed out. Bow had extensive duties on Saturday and direct contact with Pre - I believe in the van and again near the stadium. Apparently he had to stop Pre and Kimball somewhere near the stadium because maybe the band was still on the field.

Bow, when you stopped them, was Pre ahead and how far from the "finish line" and what was his and Rich's condition. Is it "Rich" or am I getting him mixed up with the character from The Fugitive?

Also, the presenter of the trophy might have been O'Donnell, Kevin, Dennis? A real character.

Bow, this reminds me of the Mike Garrett research project.

Doug, you may have a story here. DW

voted this the Topic of the Day.

radiostar wrote:

Damn. I thought someone was saying that Pre and U.S. Grant were drinking buddies.

Nope, Grant kept his horse away from the trees when he'd been out drinking!

that's fan boyz. not journalism.

Pre was actually mortally wounded by Union sharpshooters at Antietam. His '72 Olympic gold medal had to be awarded posthumously as a result.

A great runner and a True Rebel.

How dare you make fun of an United States Track and Field team Olympic Champion like Steve Prefontaine of Coos Bay, Oregon, United States of America, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

You are so full of shit wrote:

the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

You mean home of the Atlanta Braves, who, according to a previous post, Pre defended to the death.

Surprised Pre was a gray? Shouldn't have been since he was from the South coast of Oregon.

Atlanta's men and women were raped in Union prisons for 10 years after the Civil War. If was as bad as the Mongol Hordes. Disgraceful.

radiostar wrote:

You are so full of shit wrote:

the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

You mean home of the Atlanta Braves, who, according to a previous post, Pre defended to the death.

Surprised Pre was a gray? Shouldn't have been since he was from the South coast of Oregon.

Central Oregon Coast. He was neutral.

Central Oregon Coast was a Border State, like Kentucky and Missouri. Men could go either side. Brother ended up fighting brother.Pre went with The Confederacy, because he was a True Rebel.

sLCsucks wrote:

radiostar wrote:

You mean home of the Atlanta Braves, who, according to a previous post, Pre defended to the death.

Surprised Pre was a gray? Shouldn't have been since he was from the South coast of Oregon.

Central Oregon Coast. He was neutral.

Reality Bath wrote:

Pre was actually mortally wounded by Union sharpshooters at Antietam. His '72 Olympic gold medal had to be awarded posthumously as a result.

A great runner and a True Rebel.

A true southerner would call that battle "Sharpsburg".

great story..thanks