Prefontaine would have owned a bar starting in maybe 1978, 1981 if he hung around for the Moscow games, and would have been anonymous to all but the most fervent of OU fans over 40 years ago.
Age/lifestyle may have done him in by right about now.
He would have made a fortune with Nike.
Some guy named Phil Knight had a very high opinion of Pre:
To Nike’s creator, Steve Prefontaine was much more than a talented runner. He was an inspiration for how the fledgling company would do, well, everything.
Makes sense. Thank you. In competitions he liked to push and front run so the daily grind may have been less enjoyable for him. He set 14 American Records, won NCAA Cross Country 3 times and had quite the range of excellent times from the 1500m through the 10K. I liked his competitive spirit. He would have been talked about a lot on Letsrun.
it would be half and half. he's outspoken, so i guess it would depend on what he was outspoken about. Would his complaints be logical or emotional? Would they be well timed, or would they be emotional outbursts following losses?
I would like to think he would complain about how inept the USATF is. EVerybody could get behind that. Maybe he'd talk trash about the lack of real racing.
He would have ended up like Frank Shorter, barely ever a topic of discussion at all. Who cares about some guy who came in 4th at the olympics and held a few AR's?
Nike would not have hyped him or named a track meet after him. He'd be about as high profile as Marty Liquori. You could probably search up old posts by him about his glory days
Does Letsrun talk about any other 4th placed Olympian?
Nobody would mention him ever.
I mention Duane Solomon on here from time to time. I believe taller than average 45.xx F.A.T. 400m athletes are the men with the greatest 800m potential.
He would have ended up like Frank Shorter, barely ever a topic of discussion at all. Who cares about some guy who came in 4th at the olympics and held a few AR's?
Nike would not have hyped him or named a track meet after him. He'd be about as high profile as Marty Liquori. You could probably search up old posts by him about his glory days