Oregon Drift

The Steve Prefontaine Memorial Run stirs memories for those who ran with him at Marshfield High School in the late 1960s.

The annual race, now in its 31st year, commemorates the life of hometown track legend Prefontaine, who died in a single-car accident in 1975 at the age of 24.

The years don’t dull Jay Farr’s recollections of his childhood friend.
‘Steve’s been dead now longer than he lived,” said Farr, who grew up a block from Prefontaine.

‘His presence in the track world has enhanced.”

John Burles, who’s been the timekeeper for the September race for about 26 years, graduated four years ahead of Prefontaine and lived in the same neighborhood as the famed runner and Farr.

‘We kid about the fact that we were all neighbors,” Burles said.

‘I was older, and (Prefontaine) was one of the little kids on the block, running around doing little kid things.”

Farr was a bit closer with Prefontaine because they were the same age and became friends in grade school.

Between the poles
Farr remembered using his father’s stopwatch to time races between telephone poles. The two started running track in junior high, which was their first opportunity to participate in the the team sport.

However, Farr recalled Prefontaine dipping his toes into many different sports, including football, basketball and swimming.

‘I remember him on the swim team,” said Farr, who was also a swimmer.

‘He sunk like a rock.”
Luckily, Prefontaine had track. And a penchant for cockiness.

Burles said Prefontaine once showed up to practice with the Marshfield seniors.

‘I do remember as a senior in ’65, he came over as an eighth grader and he wanted to run with us,” Burles said.

‘He liked to talk, so we said, ‘Come on.’”

He kept up for a while, Burles recalled, but eventually got tired and gave up. Burles added that the seniors laughed about it, ‘not knowing four to eight years later he would be an international superstar.”

Trademark confidence
But his confidence, bordering on arrogance, became synonymous with Prefontaine.

‘Steve Prefontaine didn’t hold anything back, and his mouth was running and his legs were churning,” Burles said matter-of-factly.

Farr, and many of Prefontaine’s fans, saw his cockiness as more than just a quirky character trait.

It was his appeal. It was what filled the stands. He didn’t think people could beat him, and he made sure competitors knew it.

‘He had that kind of vision, you know, ‘I can do this,’ the mindset that you can be the best in the world,” Farr said.

That was a goal he pursued adamantly through high school — to come out on top. He lettered in cross country as a freshman, and continued his climb to greatness through the years.

Few bested him
People tried to beat him, but not many did, Farr said.

‘There was a freshman who beat Pre,” Farr said, straining to remember who he was.

‘He just disappeared in whatever vices you can fall off the end of the Earth with. Steve had enough going for him that he didn’t do that.”

His senior year, Prefontaine tried to break the four-minute mile. Farr has a black-and-white photo of that night framed on a wall in Farr’s True Value.

He didn’t break four minutes at the meet, but he would soon enough, Farr said.

Although Prefontaine was dominating in high school, Farr added some interesting facts that many fans might not know.

Little-known facts
‘You would assume that Steve holds the Coos County two-mile record. Kirk Gamble holds the record. Of course, nobody’s heard of Kirk Gamble,” Farr said of his fellow classmate, who broke the record while Prefontaine was dead-set on breaching the four-minute barrier.

Also, Farr came across a scrapbook that his mother had made, showing results that proved Farr beat Prefontaine in a dual meet with North Bend — in the 400 meters.

‘I must have been the only one to beat Steve on the track our senior year,” Farr said, chuckling, adding that coach Walt McClure switched around some runners to races they didn’t normally run.

‘That was my distance, certainly not Steve’s distance.”

Separate ways
After high school, Prefontaine headed to the University of Oregon, Farr ran for Yale University, and Burles gave up running competitively and attended Oregon State.

After Prefontaine became a household name in the running community, Farr was famous by association, even on the East Coast.

‘Steve was always my claim to fame,” Farr said. ‘That made me a big guy.”

None of them stayed too close, as often happens during college years. Burles ran into him a few times, and Farr last ran with him across the sand dunes after their freshman year of college.

‘Steve was somebody who never forgot a friend,” Farr said.

Burles said he saw him at Southwestern Oregon Community College about one month before he died. Prefontaine chatted about preparing for the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and Burles had no doubt he would have excelled.

‘He’d have been right in there,” he said.

Seat belt enigma
Prefontaine never would get the chance to redeem himself in the 5,000 meters.

That night still is fresh in Farr’s mind.

‘I took driver’s education with Steve. He knew better than to not wear a seatbelt,” Farr said, eyes glassy. ‘So I’m still p—-ed at him for that.”

‘He was distracted, I’m sure,” he added. ‘As all young people are at one time or another.”

Today, his namesake 10K race draws people from all over the world to pay homage to the track star who never got to reach his full potential. His legacy still inspires people, even those who were born well after his death.

Race resurgence
Burles said the race has even seen a resurgence after a few down years.

‘It’s got its steam back, it’s gaining numbers again. No prize money, no major advertising, and people that run it like that,” Burles said.

No frills. Much how Prefontaine would have preferred it.

‘What has boosted numbers is the younger kids,” Farr said.

‘Pre’s reputation continues. I think Coos Bay would have been a lot different if Steve had lived.”

But on Sept. 18, Pre’s people, as his fans were often called, will gather in Coos Bay, from the very young to the very old.

Some will have grown out their hair and mustaches to emulate the iconic face; others will wear silly costumes.

Seconds before the arduous run, Farr will have his mind on the man who influenced it all.

‘I still get goosebumps when the gun goes off in September.”

By Rachel Finney