Tommorow morning, in the cozy college town of Eugene, Oregon, something extraordinary will be happening. Nearly 15,000 track fans, real track fans, will be going to the one meet that they attend each year---the Nike Prefontaine Classic.

Tommorow, June 4, 2005, is the 30th version of the meet and it is one week and 30 years to the day that Steve Prefontaine died in an auto accident in Eugene. The stature of the meet has added to the legend of Prefontaine, and vice versa.

If one speaks to athletes of his generation, especially the guys who ran against him, their recollections of a 24-year-old, fun loving, fiercely proud and hard working young man. It gives the listener a better appreciation of the man and the legend.

The facts are that Steve Prefontaine was a hugely talented runner, but he was also a rennaissance man, a true combination of the profane and the profound. His few TV interviews showed someone comfortable with himself, his jogging around the Oregon track, at five minute pace, to his adoring crowd after a win, showed the rockstar in Prefontaine, but it was his racing that showed the artist.

Artists are risktakers, for it is only in self expression that one drops his or her trappings or protective wrappings, and challenges the public to love or hate the results of the act of creation. Steve Prefontaine ran with abandon and his records, from 2k to 10k proved it. His races were his art form and the track was his canvas. His style was more of Jasper Johns than John Singer Sargent---he respected the history of his sport, but he wanted to put his own interpretation on the sport. And, in his short career, he did.

The man who has added the most to the legend is Tom Jordan, the meet director of the Nike Prefontaine Classic. Speaking to Tom on a weekly basis during the spring before a Pre Classic, one can hear the excitement growing in this meet director's voice as he brings in great athletes, one after another.

And do not underestimate the job---the position of meet director is tough. Jordan has lived through several US outdoor championships, several masters championships and 30 Pre Classics. What is most comforting about Tom Jordan is that he still loves the sport, still loves the meet and still praises the man whose memory keeps him busy most of the year.

This year's meet will have many amazing moments. Tom Jordan told ATF last week that this may be the best Pre Classic ever. And it should be. On the 30th anniversary of Prefontaine's death, his memory and his legend continue to grow. A TV ad done for Steve Prefontaine was narrated by Phil Knight, the co-founder of Nike, in only his second voice over for a Nike ad ever. The print execution of the ad, Pre-Rockstar, as this writer calls it, shows a very 70s Steve Prefontaine, long hair, long sideburns and those eyes. The most piercing eyes, something that makes one look away from the picture.

The Pre Classic is a testament to all a track meet can be, entertaining, breath taking, and a celebration of all that is good and noble about our sport, with alot of fun mixed in.

From the two-mile tommorow to the women's hurdles, the Pre Classic will be unforgettable.

If one asks Tom Jordan about the meet, he always gives thanks to his sponsor, Nike, and the support of John Capriotti, former college coach, former college distance runner, and now Nike director of athletics. A man who has, under contract, the fastest sprinters, most spectacular distance runners, and most amazing athletes that could showcase track and field. It is through this worldwide corp of athletes that the Pre Classic gets its fields. A field like this in any other meet would cost several million dollars.

If Pre were alive today, this writer suggested last week that after taking a medal at the 10,000 meters in the 1976 Olympics, he would have probably gotten into politics. His spirit can be felt in the stands at Hayward Field, and with Tom Jordan as the gate keeper, the Pre Classic should go on for many years to come.