Contemporaries of Pre How Do You Rank Him as a Runner?

Pre doesn't deserve to be in front of any other person on that list just because he was a runner.

Pre was the first top-level runner I ever saw, when he won his first NCAA track titles in Seattle (1970?). It was great having a world-class runner so close to home.

I would concur about Pre deserving to be in the top five of that list, but not about the "best American to ever tie on a pair of spikes". His personality was a big part of his notoriety, and you have to factor that in, but he was vulnerable when racing the Euros, due to his lack of closing speed.

"Pre was the first Nike athlete. He was the first to wear co-founder Bill Bowerman’s spikes with the famous "swoosh" on them. Nike grew because of Pre."

The Nike Koolaid bin hadn't yet been built when Pre was running. Pre was wearing Adidas.

As far as I know, the first athlete to wear Nike in International competition was a high school kid from Lebanon Illinois.

Just wanted to clarify some things: When I wrote about the first time he wore the Bowerman swoosh, I meant that he was the first person to really bolster Nike to become a great brand. From Bowerman and the Men of Oregon (Kenny Moore) and Geoff Hollister's Out Of Nowhere, I got the sense that Pre really helped start up Nike's publicity by wearing Bowerman's spikes with the swoosh. Sorry for any confusion, my mistake.

malmo you need to turn on your rear-window de-fogger.

malmo wrote:

"Pre was the first Nike athlete. He was the first to wear co-founder Bill Bowerman’s spikes with the famous "swoosh" on them. Nike grew because of Pre."

The Nike Koolaid bin hadn't yet been built when Pre was running. Pre was wearing Adidas.

As far as I know, the first athlete to wear Nike in International competition was a high school kid from Lebanon Illinois.

i don't know if i believe pre is as great as everyone thinks from a runner standpoint. However, i think as runners, we overlook the contributions he made to the sport in the terms of nike and the aau. I feel as though if he were running today, he would be seen as a big deal. Distance runners in our sport are seen as shy and passive. Pre was neither and that would be very beneifical for drawing attention to our sport and thus popularity. Pre would be very well known and if he was a favorite for a medal as he had been in this current day and age and than died, his death would rank high on that list. I'm jut rambling now though, as my main point is, I do not believe we should annoint pre to god like status because of him being a runner, however, I do believe he is hated for very little reason besides many runners living in the past and not honoring our current runners. He contributed a lot to our sport and if had lived, would quite possibly be one of if not the greatest american runners of all time. It's important we honor our past, but just not let it overshadow our future.

also to follow up my point. again I think you can argue either way, but... from a running standpoint, i think it's important to look at how screwed our sport gets, if anyone in our sport should be on that list it should be pre, but yet you get multiple people from other sports, is the death any less important because the sport isn't as popular? it should be noticed the contributions that athlete makes to te sport and the importance his/her death has on that sport, but by mass numbes, but by actual importance.

I think it's about time that we made movie about his life.

I say we called it "PRE FON TAINE the F-cking Man"

It's a great deal easier to judge guys like Prefontaine when you saw them race. He was the best USA runner at 2000-5000 meters and no doubt would have been great at 10K if he had lived and ran in the 1976 Olympics.

But I doubt he would have won there. He would not have beaten Viren and probably not Lopes. But he might have been 3rd ahead of Foster. He would have had a heck of a time if he chose to run the 5K. It came down to a bloody kickers race. He would have been fortunate to have finished 4th again. 5th was more likely.

I was lucky enough to see him race in person a number of times. He was very tenacious. He won every race I saw him run in except one. That was an indoor mile in early 1973 when he was still unmotivated after coming in 4th in the 5K finals in Munich.

Tough, tough runner.

You had to see him run.

I'd rate him near the top but below Shorter, Rodgers, Benoit, Slaney, Lewis and Ashford.

But why rate them? Let's glory in their accomplishments.

Runners all.

estabrook wrote:

from a running standpoint, i think it's important to look at how screwed our sport gets,

That's an American television station. Running isn't popular in America. The media isn't conspiring to 'screw' running. Fox sports would cover running if people cared to watch professional meets.

Add to that point, I'd say the author of the article is stretching quite a bit in saying that any American born and raised distance runner is a better athlete than any modern era All Pro NFL or NBA player. That said, Pre was certainly a rarer athlete than some rich guy driving a car.

malmo wrote:

The Nike Koolaid bin hadn't yet been built when Pre was running. Pre was wearing Adidas.

As far as I know, the first athlete to wear Nike in International competition was a high school kid from Lebanon Illinois.

I was certain that I'd seen several photos of Prefontaine in various Nikes.

Overall Records: He owned every (8) American record between 2,000 and 10,000 meters and between two miles and six miles. He also held eight collegiate records while at Oregon, with his three-mile (12:53.4) and six-mile (27:09.4) still standing. During his career, he broke his own or other American records 14 different times, broke the four-minute barrier nine times, ran 25 two-mile races under 8:40 and 10 5K races faster than 13:30.

This is from the UOregon site. It expands on Lotsbom's article. In our sport, numbers tell the story.

Pre and Ryun created an excitement for running in an age before cable, ESPN and of course the internet. There are moments in sport competition where the athlete makes the competition a true event. Pre gave us that because of the progression he made individually and against the clock.

The mythology that has been developed (marketed) has nothing to do with the races mentioned in the bio above.

pre841 wrote:

I was certain that I'd seen several photos of Prefontaine in various Nikes.

Not speaking for Malmo but I think his point was that Pre was an adidas runner (as were most then) until 1973. Dead by 1975. Craig Virgin being the first athlete to wear Nike in international competition is plausible, since he wore them in high school and could have worn them in USA Junior dual meets.

I thought he was very good runner. Fourth in the Olympics is an excellent performance and having multiple US runners showed that Munich was no one trick pony sort of deal.

Had he lived I doubt he'd have won an Olympic gold, but who knows. I could see him getting a bronze at 10,000 meters in 1976 but wouldn't bet my life on it. I do think he'd have influenced how the race was run as he'd have done in the 5,000 had he doubled.

Eventually he'd have retired, gotten internet access, and maybe had a few goes at telling the next generation of runners what he thought they were doing wrong and instead of idolizing him as many do now they'd call him an old fart who doesn't understand how much tougher it is now than in his day.

Adi Dassler wrote:

pre841 wrote:

I was certain that I'd seen several photos of Prefontaine in various Nikes.

Not speaking for Malmo but I think his point was that Pre was an adidas runner (as were most then) until 1973. Dead by 1975. Craig Virgin being the first athlete to wear Nike in international competition is plausible, since he wore them in high school and could have worn them in USA Junior dual meets.

Image:

http://www.stripes.com/photoday/041606.jpg

That pic was what, from the '72 Olympics? I assume he may have been wearing some of Bowerman's spikes at that time, but when did Nike become Nike? Around that time, right? Maybe he wanted to stick to the familiar Adidas spikes for the Olympics.

Just try to imagine if Webb or Rupp or somebody we follow today owned every US record, and was also a legit contender at the highest international level. All the hype notwithstanding, he was the best (along with Rodgers and Shorter).

My take is that the list is largely a matter of "recency". I am having trouble accessing the list, but I bet most of the deaths are recent. Perhaps just an outcome of who visits such sites and polls.

Stringer's death kick off a maelstorm of lawsuits and was directly related to playing his sport.

wejo wrote:

People of my generation and Chris's generation only know the myth of Pre. I'd like to hear what people of Pre's generation thought about him as a runner (and perhaps what could have been).

My dad saw Pre win his last collegiate race (Baton Rouge??). My dad was a college basketball player and was coaching collegiately in Louisiana at the time. He knew nothing about track, but his friend said they needed to go watch Pre and Dave Wottle. He said it was hot as hades and after Pre won, he kept running until he got to the steeplechase pit, took off his shoes, and soaked his feet. My dad thought it was cool-- left a big impression. He kept the program from the meet. So when I started running, he always talked about Pre and Dave (w/ his hat!).