Well I stayed in an Airbnb that was the closest house to where Steve died. The woman there told me that she believed a local doctor's kid was driving drunk and that Steve swerved to avoid him. It wasn't even debatable to her what happened.
I believe that has been floated by others. Is it in print? I should have Jonathan make sure and write an article.
Her husband at the time was the guy who found Steve I believe.
Two things are fairly certain:
(1) Another car was present, and it fled the scene.
(2) Steve had been drinking a fair amount, though his friends did not think that he was too drunk (by 1970s) standards to drive.
The only person who knows what happened is the driver of the other car.
This book says Pre's autopsy BAC was like .16? I think that was kinda crazy by 1970s standards, regardless of what frank shorter says?
A Bob Kennnedy book...he ran during the height of EPO. Given the remarkable disappearance of the African men on the medal stand at worlds it would be fascinating to get his take on how all things changed with EPO in his era
Well I stayed in an Airbnb that was the closest house to where Steve died. The woman there told me that she believed a local doctor's kid was driving drunk and that Steve swerved to avoid him. It wasn't even debatable to her what happened.
I believe that has been floated by others. Is it in print? I should have Jonathan make sure and write an article.
Her husband at the time was the guy who found Steve I believe.
Since you have been on the road, you know there is barely enough room for two cars. Coming down the hill (Pre's direction), there is no room at all on the right. The only reason to swerve would be if an oncoming car was in the wrong lane, and given that neither of them would have seen each other until the last moment, both of thrm would have instinctively swerved (Pre left, other driver right) and they would have hit head on.
The other option involving a second vehicle is Pre was driving in the wrong lane (possible due to intoxication) and swerved left into the rock, but the other car would have certainly swerved also and wrecked into the trees on the opposite side of the street.
Neither has any plausibility. What makes sense is he made a bad decision to get behind the wheel of a car at night on a narrow windy road while under the influence of alcohol, lost control, and crashed.
The story his family should be telling is the cautionary tale of why you need to not drink and drive and the importance of having a designated driver. It doesn't matter how famous you are, if you are an Olympian, or anything else, alcohol and driving do not mix.
As for the lady who "knows" what happened, well, there are millions who "know" JFK wasn't killed by Oswald, who "know" 9/11 was planned by the US government, and "know" aliens are being studied at Area 51.
I don't think the term "designated driver" even existed in 1975...
People drove after drinking routinely. And many times if they did get stopped... the cops just told them to go straight home.
As far as Pre's BAC being .16. That is going to cause a lot of impairment in somebody who doesn't drink that often... but for people who drink a lot... they are pretty well adapted to that functioning at that level of BAC.
This book says Pre's autopsy BAC was like .16? I think that was kinda crazy by 1970s standards, regardless of what frank shorter says?
It's not just Shorter. Plenty of people at the party thought he was fine to drive.
Also, if you have an alcohol tolerance (which Pre surely did), .16 isn't necessarily super drunk. A male distance runner could get there with 5 beers. Heck, my college girlfriend had a breathalyzer that she bought because she wanted to know what the legal limit really meant. Turned out she was always over .1 % with just two drinks, and you'd never have a clue.
Now, I certainly don't advocate driving after 5 beers, but people were driving home from every bar in America having had a similar amount. It was certainly well over the legal limit, but driving tipsy just wasn't viewed the same way then as it is now.
The family absolutely should dispute this. However, they are also being hypocrites. For decades the family has pushed conspiracies that Pre was not intoxicated the night of the accident (despite his official blood alcohol content) and he was not at fault (the never found "other vehicle").
If they want to challenge lies about Pre's upbringing, they need to first admit that he was not perfect, made a huge error in judgement that night, and this bad decision caused his death. Until then, they have no credibility.
Well I stayed in an Airbnb that was the closest house to where Steve died. The woman there told me that she believed a local doctor's kid was driving drunk and that Steve swerved to avoid him. It wasn't even debatable to her what happened.
I believe that has been floated by others. Is it in print? I should have Jonathan make sure and write an article.
Her husband at the time was the guy who found Steve I believe.
Yes, you need to pursue this... It would help his family and loved ones left behind to know the truth. If you stayed at the Airbnb, you should have the woman's name and her husband's, so follow up with them if they are (hopefully) still alive. Get the name of the doctor and his son...
A Bob Kennnedy book...he ran during the height of EPO. Given the remarkable disappearance of the African men on the medal stand at worlds it would be fascinating to get his take on how all things changed with EPO in his era
Just to reiterate your point: Bob Kennedy ran during the height of the EPO era.
Well I stayed in an Airbnb that was the closest house to where Steve died. The woman there told me that she believed a local doctor's kid was driving drunk and that Steve swerved to avoid him. It wasn't even debatable to her what happened.
I believe that has been floated by others. Is it in print? I should have Jonathan make sure and write an article.
Her husband at the time was the guy who found Steve I believe.
Yes, you need to pursue this... It would help his family and loved ones left behind to know the truth. If you stayed at the Airbnb, you should have the woman's name and her husband's, so follow up with them if they are (hopefully) still alive. Get the name of the doctor and his son...
Yea bringing up an old death with a story from so and so would help the family?
Linda Prefontaine posted on FB: "[...] I also challenged him on Neta’s quote that my Parents were “embarrassed” of Steve. I presented a picture of an award that Steve won as a baby in 1951. My Mom entered him into a “better baby show” contest that he won. What mother, embarrassed of their child, would enter them in a beauty contest? They wouldn’t!"
Actually, the sort of narcissist who enters their child in a "better baby show" is perhaps exactly the sort of terrible person who goes on to humiliate and abuse their child for not living up to impossible expectations.
Linda, who doesn't sound like a paragon of class and intelligence, certainly isn't making the case she thinks she is here.
(1) Another car was present, and it fled the scene.
(2) Steve had been drinking a fair amount, though his friends did not think that he was too drunk (by 1970s) standards to drive.
The only person who knows what happened is the driver of the other car.
This book says Pre's autopsy BAC was like .16? I think that was kinda crazy by 1970s standards, regardless of what frank shorter says?
.16 was not anything out of the ordinary in the 1970s. Hell, Miller used to make little 7 oz bottles of beer for driving purposes as the 12 oz bottles got too warm between your legs behind the wheel
This book says Pre's autopsy BAC was like .16? I think that was kinda crazy by 1970s standards, regardless of what frank shorter says?
if you have an alcohol tolerance (which Pre surely did), .16 isn't necessarily super drunk. A male distance runner could get there with 5 beers.
Oh, so maybe he "only" had five beers before getting behind the wheel on a highway and risking the lives of others.
(Apparently not for the first time, if "plenty of people at the party thought he was fine to drive" through their apparent regular evaluation of alcohol impairment in their friends before driving.)
The efforts to rehabilitate the image of a confirmed drunk driver are fascinating.
A Bob Kennnedy book...he ran during the height of EPO. Given the remarkable disappearance of the African men on the medal stand at worlds it would be fascinating to get his take on how all things changed with EPO in his era
Just to reiterate your point: Bob Kennedy ran during the height of the EPO era.
800 dude, In all fairness, five books were published on the life of Steve Prefontaine prior to the Brendan O’Meara biography. Additionally, another was released just ten days ago. For some reason there has been a surge of Prefontaine biographies in the past year. Four of the titles below are in my collection. Tom Jordan’s book is not as childish as it is matter of fact.
Your position on corporal punishment being an accepted practice of behavior modification during that era is valid. Even schools issued “paddling” to kids acting up and witnessing a few inside a classroom was enough to keep me in check. However, I cannot form an opinion of the alleged abuse and it if were spankings that O’Meara describes until reading his words for myself.
Jordan, Tom. Pre!. Tafnews Press, 1977. Krishna, Golden. StevePre: The Unfinished Story of Running Icon Steve Prefontaine. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2009. Chadez, Don. Following Pre: A Photographic Look at Steve Prefontaine, America's Greatest Running Legend, Blurb Books. 2015. Clerici, Paul C. Oregon Running Legend Steve Prefontaine. The History Press, 2022. Love, Matt. Never Stop Pre: The Enduring Inspiration of America's Greatest Sports Legend. Independently Published, 2024. O'Meara, Brendan. The Front Runner: The Life of Steve Prefontaine. Mariner Books. 2025. Grann, Ricky. What If He Had Lived? Steve Prefontaine's Pursuit of Perfection: An Intimate Portrait of America's Greatest and Most Controversial Distance Runner. Independently Published, 2025.
Caution must be taken with the last entry as it appears to be AI generated. And caution must be taken from what we read in the other books as there are so many rumors that have been somewhat accepted as fact (how did he cut his foot before NCAA's, how many pen-pals were there)
This book says Pre's autopsy BAC was like .16? I think that was kinda crazy by 1970s standards, regardless of what frank shorter says?
It's not just Shorter. Plenty of people at the party thought he was fine to drive.
Also, if you have an alcohol tolerance (which Pre surely did), .16 isn't necessarily super drunk. A male distance runner could get there with 5 beers. Heck, my college girlfriend had a breathalyzer that she bought because she wanted to know what the legal limit really meant. Turned out she was always over .1 % with just two drinks, and you'd never have a clue.
Now, I certainly don't advocate driving after 5 beers, but people were driving home from every bar in America having had a similar amount. It was certainly well over the legal limit, but driving tipsy just wasn't viewed the same way then as it is now.
It's not just Shorter. Plenty of people at the party thought he was fine to drive.
Also, if you have an alcohol tolerance (which Pre surely did), .16 isn't necessarily super drunk. A male distance runner could get there with 5 beers. Heck, my college girlfriend had a breathalyzer that she bought because she wanted to know what the legal limit really meant. Turned out she was always over .1 % with just two drinks, and you'd never have a clue.
Now, I certainly don't advocate driving after 5 beers, but people were driving home from every bar in America having had a similar amount. It was certainly well over the legal limit, but driving tipsy just wasn't viewed the same way then as it is now.
That's a really good post.
If you’ve ever been to Pre’s Rock, you’ll see how dangerous the road/curve is even driving 100% sober in daylight.
What's the purposes of even writing a new book like this as we know Pre's "story". Is this to tell us the secret of running well is to be created out of abuse? lol.
If I were the parents / sister I would already have a libel lawsuit launched.
It seems like many top distance runners may have been abused when young.
Thinking about Frank Shorter, Ingebrigtsens, Mo Farah (trafficked and forced to work as a servant), Lynn Jennings and now Pre.
Yes, you need to pursue this... It would help his family and loved ones left behind to know the truth. If you stayed at the Airbnb, you should have the woman's name and her husband's, so follow up with them if they are (hopefully) still alive. Get the name of the doctor and his son...
Yes, you need to pursue this... It would help his family and loved ones left behind to know the truth. If you stayed at the Airbnb, you should have the woman's name and her husband's, so follow up with them if they are (hopefully) still alive. Get the name of the doctor and his son...