Pre

The reward I cherish most from my years associated with the University of Oregon's athletic department is the friendships I had with some of Oregon's greatest sports legends.  No star was brighter than Steve Prefontaine. He would often drop into my office to read my weekly issue of Track & Field News before going to his daily workouts. No CPA had a better grasp of the dollar- and- cents value of his favorite activity than Pre.  He would open an issue and see a full page ad selling tee shirts with his picture on them and scream, "Look at these bastards selling me for big bucks. They're not out there running around Spencer Butte in the freezing rain.  It's not right."

He wasn't wrong.

We had plans to build a new grandstand on the west side of Hayward Field and we came up about $25,000 short of being able to start construction. Athletic Director Norv Ritchey devised a plan for funding that shortfall: we would create a Restoration Meet featuring our wunderkind Steve Prefontaine in a 1,500 meter race against the Bowling Green sensation at that time, Dave Wottle.  The kid who ran wearing that billed cap. Ritchey gave me the assignment of putting the meet together with a five-week deadline.

Pre was the first hurdle.  He was scheduled to leave for the summer track season in Europe a week before our planned meet.  My offer included a round-trip ticket to Frankfurt, Germany and a chance to run in a race he would probably lose.  You get an insight to Pre's character when he agreed to do it in a race that was far short of his distance dominance.  But he did it for his fans and the new grandstand.  Next, Dave Wottle.

I knew Wottle would be at the NCAA championships that were being held at LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana so I went there with Oregon's track team.  Oregon track coach Bill Dellinger, an ex-Olympian, helped me contact Dave Wottle's handlers and we struck a deal with the same round-trip ticket to Europe.  Wottle would later take an 800m Olympic gold medal in the Berlin Olympics.

I put together a number of other events with athletes from all over the nation who still needed to qualify for the coming Olympics and our meet could help them do it. The Restoration Meet turned out to be a huge success.  The final event, the 1,500 meter race brought the fans in the packed stands on both sides of the field to a standing, roaring, state of frenzy as Wottle and Pre came flying down the last straightaway. It was Wottle by a cap bill.  One more race that still haunts that mythic arena.

After the meet I walked with Ritchey and Pre back to the locker rooms in Mac Court.  Ritchey, who was thrilled with the meet's success, said to Pre, "It's a wonderful thing you've done for your school, Steve.  You paid back every bit of scholarships you ever received."  Pre, who was never at a loss for words replied, "S--t, I did that the first race I ever ran as a freshman."