Oregon -- Eugene Park To Mark Site Of Track Star's Death

EUGENE, Ore. - A rock wall where Oregon track legend Steve Prefontaine met his death will finally become an official tribute to his life. Friends have made a down payment on a $120,000 pledge to preserve a memorial to the runner and create a city park near the wall where Prefontaine died in 1975.

"Finally we don't have to worry about the rock," said the runner's father, Ray Prefontaine. "This way, his memory, the rock, is protected, so the rest of the world can come and see it."

In a ceremony last Friday attended by city officials and Prefontaine's family and friends, Cliff Shirley signed papers to buy the property from the state Department of Transportation and donate it to the city of Eugene for the park. Shirley, a former Eugene businessman who lives in Tualatin, and his wife, Sherry, paid $12,000 now and will pay the rest for the 1 1/2 acres within 12 years.

Steve Prefontaine died when his car veered into the rock wall near the intersection of Birch Lane and Skyline Boulevard in Eugene. The wall became a spontaneous shrine, with people leaving flowers, T-shirts, poems and racing numbers and ribbons.

"(The amount of money) is small in comparison to what he gave," Cliff Shirley said. Prefontaine lived with the Shirleys for more than a year during his sophomore and junior years at the University of Oregon.

The Transportation Department first acquired the land from Lane County and the city in the 1940s as highway right-of-way. State officials started talking about selling the land a few years ago, and Prefontaine supporters worried that the site would be lost in private development.

"The rock is a symbol for all runners, it's a place they can go for a purpose for running, for goals for life, to have inner peace," said Neta Prefontaine, the runner's sister.

A memorial plaque was set up at the wall in December 1997 with a tribute written by members of the Oregon State Penitentiary running club that Prefontaine started.

The city hasn't yet planned how to develop the land into a park. No significant changes can begin until the city owns all the land.