Death
On May 30, 1975, returning from a party, after dropping off friend and distance champion Frank Shorter, Prefontaine was driving down Skyline Boulevard, east of the University of Oregon campus near Hendricks Park when his orange 1973 MGB convertible swerved into a rock wall and flipped. The overturned car trapped Prefontaine underneath it. The first witness on the scene, a nearby resident, ran outside and found Prefontaine flat on his back, still alive but pinned beneath the wreck. After trying and failing to lift the vehicle, the bystander ran to get help. By the time he returned with others, the weight of the car had crushed Prefontaine's chest, killing him. At the time of his death, his blood alcohol concentration was .16.
Prefontaine is buried at Sunset Memorial Park in his hometown, Coos Bay.
Read more about this topic: Steve Prefontaine
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“One is apt to be discouraged by the frequency with which Mr. Hardy has persuaded himself that a macabre subject is a poem in itself; that, if there be enough of death and the tomb in one’s theme, it needs no translation into art, the bold statement of it being sufficient.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“Nor has his death the world deceiv’d
Less than his wondrous life surpriz’d;
For if he like a madman liv’d
At least he like a wise one dy’d.”
—Miguel De Cervantes (1547–1616)
“All good biography, as all good fiction, comes down to the study of original sin, of our inherent disposition to choose death when we ought to choose life.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)