Like many other cops on the Eugene Police Departments payroll, he was a military veteran, a Navy man attached to the Marine Corps. When I heard it, I began shaking all over, added Francie Larrieu, America's best women's distance runner. He rapidly dressed and went into the street to see if he could locate the accident. Cookie Policy. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 2:15 p.m. Warren says before JJ's autopsy, he held a briefing with Rexburg police, Fremont County sheriff detectives and an FBI agent. pg.acq.push(function() { Theres a chance that theres something even older in there, he said. He smashed collegiate and American records and competed in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Since then, it's been a long process for American distance runners in . It was someone at the station. By the time medics arrived, he was pronounced dead. Steve Prefontaine's Tragic Death Ended a Brief - Sportscasting Prefontaine garnered national attention when he set the high school record for the two-mile (8:41.5) in 1969. Letters from college recruiters poured in to the Prefontaine mailbox. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. For years, visitors to Prefontaines home in Coos Bay would be greeted by his parents and, in some cases, invited in to peruse family photo albums. Guts. 2.1K views 7 months ago If you're a fan of track and field, you've probably heard of Steve Prefontaine. A funeral service is scheduled Monday at the Marshfield High School stadium in Coos Bay, Ore., where Prefontaine was born. Prefontaineran dozens of miles through the streets of Eugene every week. (You shouldnt have to say youre historic, anearly Nike colleague of Prefontaines said to me.) Prefontaine and Tysonhad trouble rationing the five-gallon tank of water for the shower after six-mile training runs. Officials added a parking space on the narrow road to accommodate visitors, who leave race bibs, medals, sneakers, photographs, and handwritten notes. Dick Buerkle of Rochester, a racing rival, heard the news at an airport in Seattle, on returning with a United States team from a twoweek tour in China. The room in the Eugene, Oregon, office can best be described as the morgue of the newspaper. nobody with any common sense is disputing that Pre was legally drunk at the time of the fatal accident.