I’m a track alum and got an email yesterday of an invitation for a dedication ceremony on March 21 for the naming of the stadium, Prefontaine Stadium.
For those that don’t know, Steve Prefontaine was an iconic distance runner at the University of Oregon in the late 60s and early 70s that eventually ended up being the first athlete ever to wear Nike shoes. He died at the age of 24 in a car crash. Two movies were made of him in the late 90s and those movies along w the birth of the internet really got the resurgence of cross country and track running going again in the late 90s and early 2000s.
But this makes no sense why they’d name the stadium after him w obviously no ties to the school. Anyone know much about this?
For those that don’t know, Steve Prefontaine was an iconic distance runner at the University of Oregon in the late 60s and early 70s that eventually ended up being the first athlete ever to wear Nike shoes. He died at the age of 24 in a car crash. Two movies were made of him in the late 90s and those movies along w the birth of the internet really got the resurgence of cross country and track running going again in the late 90s and early 2000s.
But this makes no sense why they’d name the stadium after him w obviously no ties to the school. Anyone know much about this?
