Did people generally like Pre when he was alive?

Yes. He was very easy to root for because he always went for it no matter who was in the field.

I grew up in coos bay. Nobody had much to say about him on a personal level. Most people just say "I didn't really know him. He wasn't a big deal until after he left." One guy that was in his graduating class apparently didn't care for him and used the words "arrogant alcoholic ahole."

Dang, I doubt the credibility of this. 'Arrogant alcoholic' seems fairly excessive of a term for a high schooler. Not denying it is possible.

A few people that I know who met the guy all said he was a nice guy and willing to sign autographs, etc.

Oregonian II wrote:

Easy to root for or was he more of a villain?

He ran hard and often ran from the front, so he was popular BUT..

What no one can really grasp is how disassociated people were from athletes and celebrities, especially runners. The ONLY time you saw them was reading about them in newspaper or in this case, running magazine.

Imagine that there's a big race and you don't really know the results until T&F News comes out? Yeah, hard to imagine with twitter, and the instant access to all data and news we have today.

If you were lucky you might see one track race on ABC's Wide World of Sports.

That is why most sports starts were idolized, and few but the most outrageous were "villains" *see Mohammed Ali.

Charliemagne wrote:

What no one can really grasp is how disassociated people were from athletes and celebrities, especially runners. The ONLY time you saw them was reading about them in newspaper or in this case, running magazine.

Imagine that there's a big race and you don't really know the results until T&F News comes out? Yeah, hard to imagine with twitter, and the instant access to all data and news we have today.

Ah, the good old days when you'd find out in January who won NCAA cross country. Kiddos today have no idea.

Bob Sacamano wrote:

Charliemagne wrote:

What no one can really grasp is how disassociated people were from athletes and celebrities, especially runners. The ONLY time you saw them was reading about them in newspaper or in this case, running magazine.

Imagine that there's a big race and you don't really know the results until T&F News comes out? Yeah, hard to imagine with twitter, and the instant access to all data and news we have today.

Ah, the good old days when you'd find out in January who won NCAA cross country. Kiddos today have no idea.

No. If you wanted to find out, you would find out within a day or two.

Never met him, but for a runner at that time he was sort of a big deal. There was probably more hype for him than Wottle or Shorter leading up to Munich (in fact I'd never heard of those guys but had heard of Pre). Oregon came to our state for NCAAs and there were some big profiles and articles about him. And he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, maybe his sophomore or junior year in college.

However, Ryun and Liquori were a bigger deal/more famous prior to 1972, and Shorter/Wottle were just as well known after. They also made a big deal about Tony Waldrop back then ('73 or '74) because he ran a string of sub 4 miles indoors and that hadn't been done up to that point.

I know a guy who knew him at Marshfield. He thought Pre was an 'obnoxious pot-head'. This sort of fits with many of the reports of his character. Doesn't take away from his charisma. He was a local hero. I was in Europe at the time and Pre was just one of the crowd that we didn't know much about. 4th in OLYs? - big deal. I don't even recall learning about his death until a few yrs later...and I was an avid runner. Only when I came to Oregon did I see the hero worship.

einstwine wrote:

I know a guy who knew him at Marshfield. He thought Pre was an 'obnoxious pot-head'. This sort of fits with many of the reports of his character. Doesn't take away from his charisma. He was a local hero. I was in Europe at the time and Pre was just one of the crowd that we didn't know much about. 4th in OLYs? - big deal. I don't even recall learning about his death until a few yrs later...and I was an avid runner. Only when I came to Oregon did I see the hero worship.

Actually forgetting the notion that he was not necessarily warranting hero worship, 4th in the Olympics is kind of a big deal. Of course one can argue a gold medal is not a big deal if one is so inclined.

He was beloved.

Ayanimous wrote:

Bob Sacamano wrote:

Ah, the good old days when you'd find out in January who won NCAA cross country. Kiddos today have no idea.

No. If you wanted to find out, you would find out within a day or two.

Correct. USA Today on mon/tues was the go to for weekend results stateside, or in European meets. ESPN had "Running and Racing" with liquori that you MIGHT get to see footage of your favorite race, too. T and F News was huge for me in the early/mid 80's, as was the Runner. Used to borrow roomies Athletics Weekly in college, as his parents would send them from England. I remember The Harrier as well.