Running News Daily

Steve Prefontaine bib sells for $27,000US

A few weeks ago, Steve Prefontaine’s NCAA-winning race bib from the 1970 NCAA cross country championship was up for sale on Lelands Auctions. On Sept. 27 the bib sold for just under USD $27,000.

The bidding opened at the end of August, starting at $5,000. The first bid of USD $5,500 came on Sept. 20. Several bidders went back and forth over the last couple of days to escalate the price over USD $20,000. 

Prefontaine is a running hero to many. He set every American record from 2,000m to 10,000m in the early 70s, before dying in a car accident at the age of 24. His achievements helped ignite the running boom of the 1970s. His three and six-mile records set at the University of Oregon still stand today. 

The bib sold is from a cross-country meet on Nov. 23, 1970, at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Bill Dellinger, the coach of Oregon’s track program in the ’70s, gave the bib to a young athlete who was starstruck went he saw Prefontaine but was too shy to ask him to sign it.

“On the back of the bib, our consignor wrote ‘Steve Prefontaine’s number won in 1970 NCAA cross Country Championships held at William & Mary, which he won in record time,’” the Lelands lot description reads.

“On December 1st, just over a week after the race, Prefontaine replied to our consignor with a handwritten letter stating: ‘I slightly remember you standing there with the red cap on you should have said something. I’m glad you found some use for that no. 506, and I hope I can live up to yours and everybody else expectations of me.’”

The winner of the auction will now get to hold on to a unique piece of running history. The bib is a memory of one of the greatest American distance runners ever. Each year, his career and life are celebrated at the Prefontaine Classic, a world-class track event held in Eugene, Ore., in his honor.