Travis Johnson and Brad Jenkins first met in Coos Bay as preschoolers in the early 1960s. Now, they’re sharing a passion project that has been in production for almost 10 years.

Johnson and Jenkins’ documentary, “Pre’s People,” will be publicly released on Vimeo on Jan. 25, what would have been Oregon runner Steve Prefontaine’s 70th birthday. Part of the proceeds from the film will go to the running programs at Prefontaine’s alma mater, Marshfield High School, in Coos Bay, Oregon.

In 1975, just three weeks before Prefontaine died in a crash at the age of 24, Jenkins saw Prefontaine run in a track meet at Marshfield High School, where Johnson and Jenkins also attended. 

“I didn’t know who Pre was until that race,” Jenkins said. “[My dad] takes me down there, and Pre’s got this cool long hair, he’s got these cool red sweats, and he’s sprinting on that track; it was like the biggest event we’ve ever had at that track … Three weeks later, he died, and I rode my bike from my elementary school to his funeral.”

Jenkins had been a Prefontaine fan for only three weeks at the time of his death but has remained a Prefontaine fan ever since.

He dug up the poster from that track meet in 2011 and got the idea to show it to people and to hear the stories they had about Prefontaine. He started recording these stories, and eventually decided to team up with his old friend, Travis Johnson. They ended up traveling across the West Coast together while interviewing more than 50 people.

“My dad was the athletic director at Marshfield, and he knew everybody that we needed to interview,” Jenkins said.

Over the course of several years, they spoke with almost anybody who had some sort of connection to Prefontaine, whether it be teammate, coach, friend or even rival.

“It was like going back in a time machine,” Johnson said. “There were so many stories we hadn’t heard in previous documentaries and the two films that were made of Pre.”

While countless stories have been made about Prefontaine that highlight his career at the University of Oregon, or in the 1972 Summer Olympics, or about his tragically premature death, “Pre’s People” focuses on the impact that he still has on people today. The film features people of all ages, who repeatedly chant one common solidarity in unison: “Pre lives.”

One of the many interviews featured in the documentary is Prefontaine’s high school coach Walt McClure, conducted before he passed away in 2016. Johnson and Jenkins were both lucky enough to have him as a coach when they attended summer youth track programs and were able to feel some of the influence that he had on Prefontaine.

“The summer track meets were a big deal … and it was a really cool program for the kids in Coos Bay,” Jenkins said. “And I remember everybody got an award.”

As a student at Marshfield, Johnson was also coached by Prefontaine’s assistant coach Phil Pursian. Johnson explained that once McClure recognized Prefontaine’s talents, he gave the end of the baton to Pursian. Coach Pursian then started leading Prefontaine in workouts separate from the rest of the Marshfield track team.

“[Pre] was at a different level,” Johnson said.

Johnson was not alone in this thinking; all of the interview subjects, young and old, attested to Prefontaine’s dominance. Many described Prefontaine as having “a clock built into his head.”

Despite the filmmakers’ influx of personal connections and good fortune that aided the filming process, getting the project off the ground didn’t come nearly as easily.

“Making the film, all things considered, is the easy part,” Johnson said. “The funding is the hard part — and this stage, getting the word out.”

The filmmakers hope to use this film to inspire a new generation of runners, specifically kids around middle school and high school age. The hope is that it will help them become passionate about running and to live out their dreams.

“To reach out to the new generation,” Johnson said of what he wants to accomplish with this film. “The kids that aren’t big enough to play football, the kids that get bullied or picked on. The kids that don’t think they’re athletic, but want to give their all to some sort of activity or team sport.”

This mentality that they want the film to instill in kids embodies the mentality that Prefontaine had.

“Pre really put in the work,” Johnson said. “And if you put in the work, good things will come.”

In addition to inspiring younger generations, they also felt that it would be a good way to give back to the small Oregon town they originated from.

“Coos Bay’s gone through some hard times, and I wanted to give back to the community,” Jenkins said. “This is my gift back to the community.”