When folks associate Oregon locales with the late distance runner Steve Prefontaine, the go-tos are his hometown of Coos Bay , and Eugene, where, as a UO Duck, the scrappy, brash runner broke every American track record between 2,000 meters and 10,000 meters between 1973 and 1975.
But few knew the runner, known as “Pre” by fans, and, teasingly by his teammates as “World Famous,” has a special connection to Central Oregon. It happened around the time he took fourth place in the 5,000-meter race at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972.
At the height of his fame, Prefontaine would dip out from Eugene’s fanfare by spending weeks training at relative elevation in Madras. A surrogate family lived there, who’d go onto help the young track star organize a series of track invitationals. At one, world’s fastest runners convened on Madras High School’s then-cinder track.
Revelations like these abound in “The Front Runner: The Life of Steve Prefontaine,” published by an imprint of HarperCollins in summer 2025. Sports writer, author and Eugene resident Brendan O’Meara penned the unauthorized biography to honor the 50th anniversary of Prefontaine’s death in 1975 at age 24.
Reached by phone, O’Meara told the Source that in reporting his book, he intended to “interrogate the statue,” or Pre’s mythic figure that has been mainstreamed by two Hollywood biopics, along with a moving, biographic tribute, written by Tom Jordan in 1997. O’Meara conducted 150 original interviews in service of “The Front Runner.”
O’Meara will join twice-national champion 5000-meter runner Lauren Fleshman in conversation about Prefontaine’s lasting impact on American running — and how she finds running at that speed on her own rite — at Roundabout Books on Nov. 12.
The Source recently spoke with O’Meara about what he’s uncovered about Prefontaine, the young firecracker from Coos Bay.
[This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.]
the Source: First off, I’ve been a Prefontaine diehard since age 14 when I began distance running. I’ve read the previous Pre biography at least six times in my life. So, I’m stoked for this conversation.
Brendan O’Meara: I had known a bit about Pre, but just the kind of two-dimensional myth we’ve been kind of spoon-fed over the last several decades. I started putting all my energy into the book proposal with this idea of trying to get to the man behind the myth and to re- appraise him in a new modern light, 50 years after his passing. Even though Pre hasn’t changed, our understanding of him has greatly changed based on where the world has gone. Steve was so far ahead of his time. He was so much of that modern athlete we kind of take for granted today — the athlete of empowerment and branding — Steve Prefontaine was on the vanguard of that in the early ‘70s. He really leveraged his celebrity athlete profile for his own benefit, but Steve also elevated others.
My research and the several decades since Steve’s death allowed me to triangulate his character and tell a more rounded portrait of him. That was always the goal — not worship him. I don’t marinate too much in the legend of it all. But I remind people that he was a very talented young man: a brother, a great teammate, a friend, a boyfriend. All this to show that he was a human, not just this avatar of athletic brashness that we have come to know when we hear the name “Pre.”
tS: Interesting. Toward the end of his life, Pre became a big advocate for the rights of amateur athletes to take sponsorships toward earning a decent living. I’m curious, if Pre hadn’t died, how do you think he would have grown within the Nike ecosystem? [Note: Steve was one of the first athletes to compete in Nike shoes.] Do you think he would’ve become a rich celebrity or would he have changed the course of Nike?
BO: That’s a fun thought experiment. Let’s say Pre doesn’t flip his car. He survives. He’s a year out from the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. Let’s say he gets the bronze medal in the 5,000-meter race. Maybe he’s a little bit frustrated that he loses again. But nevertheless, he’s finally he got his medal. The Amateur Athletics Union [which Steve railed against] in the process of being dismantled. Steve sees how now athletes can professionalize and take sponsorships and Nike is still on the rise and they have their avatar of rebelliousness. Steve becomes the face of the franchise. Maybe he professionalizes. Maybe he takes his front running to road races and marathon runs for another four years.
He also always wanted to open a sports bar in Eugene called the Sub-Four, as in sub-four-minute mile. Steve always liked being the center of attention. He was also very individualistic. Maybe he pushed back against [Nike co-founder] Phil Knight, or maybe he takes a stance like Michael Jordan. You know, people wanted Jordan to take up more liberal causes, but Jordan said, essentially, ‘Republicans buy sneakers, too.’ Maybe Pre says it’s not his place to take a political stance — I don’t know.
Front Runner: The Life of Steve Prefontaine, Brendan O'Meara
Nov. 12, 6:30-7:30pm
Roundabout Books & Cafe
roundaboutbookshop.com
900 NW Mt. Washington Dr., Suite #110
Bend
$5 or book purchase
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