I got hurt freshman year before hockey tryouts and did track to stay in shape. I made states and my coach told my dad if I didn't play lacrosse he'd guarantee me a college scholarship by the time I was a senior.
The only problem, besides having my head up my butt, was I wasn't into track. I was good, but just saw it as a means to an end and still saw it as a sport for those that couldn't make real teams. Track just wasn't cool to me.
I continued to play soccer and was on the verge of quitting running my sophomore year to try hockey/lacrosse again. Someone told me to read Pre's biography, before making my decision, and it changed everything. I could relate to him. He made working hard and going after PR's cool.
Like many, I became a Pre fanatic, and watched Without Limits and Prefontaine 1000x. I realized I was the uncool one and track could be badass if I took it to the limit like Pre. I tried to become a front runner like him and even went to a camp where his roommate Pat Tyson was a coach (he was really funny and a good sport. He was an accomplished runner/coach himself and we just peppered him with Pre questions everyday).
I got the college scholarship, did lackluster there, but without Pre as a hero, I def would have not even made it that far. Many of my friends got hardcore into drugs, but I was too busy trying to not give anything less than my best.
I know Pre gets a lot of crap from losers on here. But F you. He was the man. Banged girls, drank beers, and destroyed AR's. Just wish he could of lived to get that Nike $.
Don't drink and drive wrote:
Don't drink and drive.
I can't believe that this 4th place Olympian has to be remembered.
Some people are charismatic, if you don't understand that, this won't be the last time you are disappointed.
I'll always live on in your hearts.
Didn’t know much about Pre until I read the Nike memoir. Any recommended docs or films?
BuyTheDip wrote:
Didn’t know much about Pre until I read the Nike memoir. Any recommended docs or films?
Fire on the Track is good, and Pre by Tom Jordan is very good too.
WWRD wrote:
Don't drink and drive wrote:
Don't drink and drive.
I can't believe that this 4th place Olympian has to be remembered.
Some people are charismatic, if you don't understand that, this won't be the last time you are disappointed.
And Billy Mills is still alive yet Letsrun doesn't bother remembering him annually because he's kept himself alive??
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot wrote:
And Billy Mills is still alive yet Letsrun doesn't bother remembering him annually because he's kept himself alive??
I dunno whether LRC itself makes a big deal about Billy, but posters mention him often during the year.
. . . More often than Bob Schul, I'd guess, even though both won gold at the same Olympics.
lease wrote:
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot wrote:
And Billy Mills is still alive yet Letsrun doesn't bother remembering him annually because he's kept himself alive??
I dunno whether LRC itself makes a big deal about Billy, but posters mention him often during the year.
. . . More often than Bob Schul, I'd guess, even though both won gold at the same Olympics.
So it proves its better to have drunk beer, loved and lost, than Won an Olympic Gold Medal
As a teenager in the nineties before the internet was even close to what it is now Pre’s story was accessible. The book was in stores and there were multiple films about him. For an enthusiast of what was a niche sport where I lived this was something inspirational and available. Sure there are a lot of other great runners with great stories and Olympic medals but there’s no need to put down Pre’s legacy because of that. He shouldn’t have drank and drove— I hope that’s part of the lesson every kid learns from him. But there’s a generation or two who couldn’t just google their favorite runners growing up and Pre’s story was an inspiration. Always tragic when someone dies in their prime.
Inspirational runner and I used to have a prefontaine t-shirt.
whenever I see a Stop Pre shirt I think... That rock did.
I was a senior in high school when Pre died. He was the hero of all of us. My school library got the New York Times, which followed track closely in those days. I could follow Pre's exploits in the Times on a meet by meet basis. I remember my junior year, thrilled to read about his US records at Hayward field in the 10,000 and then the 3-mile a few weeks later (12:51, just barely edging Frank Shorter).
Front running was a big deal for us high schoolers. We all wanted to run fast, and be like Pre, testing our limits and running as fast as we possibly could. Of course ,there were plenty of runners who relied on their kicks, but it was par for the course in those days to expect to run your guts out on a regular basis. It was a dark day when Pre died.
Thanks Pre, you were fantastic.