Fans Would Do Anything for a Pre-View

Twenty years after his death, distance runner Steve Prefontaine’s mystique lives on. Youngsters who weren’t even born when he died in an automobile accident May 30, 1975 still contact Oregon’s track and field office, seeking information on him for class projects. And there is a movie screenplay in the works about him.

Even watching him train once was something of an occasion in Eugene. About 1,000 people showed up on a smoky day--a nearby field was being burned off--in 1974 to see if he could run a sub-four-minute mile at the Hayward Field track.

Bob Newland, who was the meet director at Hayward Field, recalled the day in an interview with the Oregonian.

“It was bad. You couldn’t see the hills close by the stadium,” he said.

Prefontaine ran a 3:58.3 through the smoke, coughed up some blood and thanked the crowd for its support. But it took him the rest of the year to recover from the ordeal.

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Add Pre: Often cranky, he actually got upset when sportswriter John Hall predicted he would finish ahead of Filbert Bayi in the mile at the 1975 Los Angeles Times Indoor meet.

After Prefontaine finished fifth--Bayi won the race--he sent a handwritten note to Hall in the mail. “Hi John: Next time, leave the predictions to experts, you ignorant . . . , Steve Prefontaine.”

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Trivia time: Name the only pitcher to win 20 games in a year with fewer than 30 appearances.

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Escape clause: Roberto Kelly, who has been traded four times in the last two years, cleared out his Montreal apartment Sunday and received a pleasant surprise.

Although Kelly signed a six-month lease for $2,500 a month, the landlord let him out of his contract.

“I got a lucky break,” the Dodger outfielder said. “He’s a baseball fan.”

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Is eight enough? Just how wild is Mitch (Wild Thing) Williams? Angel teammate Lee Smith, reaching into a bucket of balls before a game recently: “Let’s see, I better take four or five. I’ve gotta play catch with Mitch.”

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Trivia answer: Ernie Bonham, pitching in 1942 for the New York Yankees. He made 28 appearances and completed 22 games, going 21-5.

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Quotebook: Philadelphia Flyer President Bobby Clarke on owners who hold cities hostage: “It’s become blackmail. They say, ‘Build me a building. Pay for my losses or I’m leaving.’ Ithink the business is still screwed up.”