No single individual can be said to have possessed more magic, created more excitement and inspired more people at Hayward Field than Pre. We are grateful to Pre and proud to honor him here at prelives.ai. We will also reflect on those who created magic before and around him and carried the torch he passed along.
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Steve Prefontaine was a remarkable person and a brilliant athlete. He was and remains a powerful inspiration for tens of thousands, perhaps many millions of people. Wonderful stories, detailed histories and fantastic movies have been created to memorialize his life. He is legend. We are here to pay tribute and to contribute to the truths about this man.
The Pre Lives was launched Thursday July 3 at 8 00 AM. It is a living site and will be updated often and will grow rapidly. Please come back soon and often. We will be providing new and little know information about Steve, his life, his career and the world surrounding him. We will also provide links to many of the wondrous works that have been created to illuminate his life. Lets begin with the man who created the rock solid foundations and international reach of Oregon Track and Field.
Jack (Doc) Malone
with his Stanford
team and with his
1908 London
Olympic Team
My interest in track and field goes back to my grandfather John Parks Hemphill who was a 800 yard specialist and miler at Stanford, 1905-1909. His favorite coach was Jack Maloney. Maloney had a long and impactful career at Stanford, spanning from 1908 to 1944. He held a prolific role, not only coaching track and field but also serving as the first varsity coach for several other sports like men's basketball, boxing, fencing, and men's soccer. His coaching legacy includes guiding the U.S. men's rugby team to a gold medal at the 1924 Paris Olympics, a team that included nine Stanford-affiliated athletes. Maloney’s career runs parallel to that of Oregon’s Bill Hayward 1904-1947. The two were rivals but fast friends whose diversity across multiple sports was rare, even in their times. Both men coached in the 1908 London Olympic Games.
Before becoming a coach, Bill Hayward had earned a reputation as one of the greatest all around athletes of all time. Combine that with what he accomplished in 43 years as track and field coach, all sports trainer and sports equipment innovator at Oregon and six Olympic Games, who can compete with him as the greatest Athlete/Coach of All Time? Now when it comes to the greatest all around (multi-sport) Athlete of All Time , I would say it’s a toss up between Jackie Joiner-Kersee and Babe Didrikson Zaharias . Jackie told me that she thinks Babe gets the nod. Jackie takes the Gold for best Track and Field Athlete of All Time. The most famous, at this point in time, possibly Pre..-
At the London Olympics where one of Bill Haywards athletes from the University of Oregon, Dan Kelley, won a Silver Medal in the Long Jump. Another one was Walter Rayburn McClure. You have an option here. I would suggest that you first take a deep dive into the life and legacy of Bill Hayward but you have the option of bypassing Bill to take a closer look at the two Walters who had a more direct effect on Steve.
Steve Prefontaine was fiercely independent, some might say ferociously independent. The trying to understand Steve there are many factors and many individuals to study, contemplate, to get to know. Lets begin with the home town and the home grown Oregon influences. You have already discovered Bill Hayward, the man who created the foundation. We will begin with two men who Bill Hayward mentored, coached and taught his craft. The second of whom, of all Pre’s great influencers, was most responsible for setting the course and imbedding the attitudes and practices that would guided Steve for the rest of his life. Then we will examine Pre himself and follow with two coaches who helped him navigate his path. Then come the teammates, family, friends and competitors who loved him, played with him, challenged him and made his life whole.
Walter Rayburn McClure (August 24, 1892 – April 12, 1959) was a University of Oregon track star He held the Pacific Coast Conference records in the mile and two-mile events and competed at the 1912 Summer Olympics n Stockhol, Sweden. He finished eighth in the 1500 m event and failed to reach the 800 m final. He also took part in the baseball event, which was held as demonstration sport. He was comissioned a second lieutenant in the Infantry in 1916, and later served with Gen. John J. Pershing in the Mexican Border campaign. In World War I, he was decorated with the Distinguised Service Cross, the Silver Star, Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
The son of Walter Rayburn McClure, Walt McClure, Jr ran for Bill Hayward and the University of Oregon track team, and became renowned as Marshfield High School (Coos Bay, Oregon) track and field coach who shape many fine athletes. Walters recognition, encouragement, life long mentoring of Steve Prefontaine will alway be put forward as his foremost achievement of his career.
Much like his mentor Bill hayward, McClure always commanded respect from the athletes he coached; he taught the fundamentals and he stressed mental toughness and a can-do attitude. He worked with each young person and determined what their goal would be for the year, then set out a schedule of workouts to meet that goal. McClure, coached multiple sports for the Marshfield Pirates during a 21-year teaching career at the high school. He was inducted into the Marshfield Hall of Fame in 2005 and was best known for his work with Pre, but touched all the athletes he mentored. Another one of McClure’s star pupils was Fran Worthen, arguably the best female track athlete in Marshfield history. She was introduced to the sport by McClure during a summer youth program, the first to include girls, in 1966.
