Pat Porter
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Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | American | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Wadena, Minnesota | May 31, 1959|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | July 26, 2012 Sedona, Arizona | (aged 53)|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Track,Long-distance running | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 5,000 meters,10,000 meters | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College team | Adams State | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personalbest(s) | 3000m:7:51.0[1] 5000m:13:33.91[1] 10,000m:27:46.80[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Patrick ( "Pat" ) Ralph Porter(May 31, 1959 – July 26, 2012) was an American distance runner. Born inWadena, Minnesota,he graduated fromAdams Statein 1982 with a degree in marketing, after which he became one of the most dominant U.S. distance runners of the 1980s. Porter was a two time U.S. Olympian, running the10000 metersat the 1984 and 1988Olympic Games.In 1983 he set the World Record for a road 10K at 27:31.8. He won the silver medal at the1985 IAAF World Cupin Canberra, Australia, getting nipped at the tape by Ethiopia'sWodajo Bultiby six hundredths of a second.
Running career
[edit]Early career
[edit]Porter had a personal record of 4:29 in the mile while running forEvergreen High Schoolin Evergreen, Colorado. He was not heavily recruited to run in college. He is a 1982 alumnusAdams State CollegeinAlamosa, Colorado,and flourished under the training of coachJoe Vigil.[2]At Adams State, Porter won 6RMACchampionships, and 3 nationalNAIAchampionships.
Post collegiate
[edit]Porter was best known for hiscross country runningaccomplishments. He won a record eight consecutiveUSA Cross Country Championshipsfrom 1982 to 1989.[3]Porter also represented the United States at theWorld Cross Country Championshipseach of these years. His best finish at the World Championships was 4th in 1984, followed by 6th, 7th, 9th and 10th-place finishes throughout his career.
1984
Porter finished 15th in 28:34.59 at theAthletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics- 10000 metres.[4]
1988
Porter did not advance to theAthletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics- 10000 metres final after finishing 11th in 28:45.04[5]in the 1st round, ranking him 23rd in the Olympics that year, but only 20 qualified to the final. His time would have ranked 17th as several runners ran slower in the final, still almost 1:25 (almost a lap and a half) behind the winner.
In 1998 Porter played Finnish distance runnerLasse ViréninWithout Limits,a biographical film about American distance legendSteve Prefontaine.[6]He was married to fellow U.S. 1988 Olympic Team member high jumperTrish King.[7]
Honor
[edit]Porter was inducted in theNational Association of Intercollegiate AthleticsHall of Fame in 1987.[8]Porter was inducted in theRMACHall of Famein July 2012.[9]Only days before his death, on July 20, Porter had been inducted into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Hall of Fame inColorado Springsand was also inducted into the Adams State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000 inAlamosa, Colorado.
Death
[edit]On July 26, 2012, at approximately 8:30 a.m., Porter was killed in an airplane crash along with his 15-year-old son Connor and his son's friend, 14-year-old Connor Mantsch. Porter, an avid pilot, on takeoff hit a boundary fence at the south end of theSedona Airportrunway just outside Sedona, Arizona, then went down a steep mesa and burst into flames upon impact at the bottom of the hill. He was 53 years old.[10]
Competition record
[edit]Cross country
[edit]Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
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Representing the![]() | |||||
1982 | World Cross Country Championships | Rome, Italy | 64th | 12 km | 35:23 |
1983 | World Cross Country Championships | Gateshead, England | 9th | 12 km | 37:12 |
1984 | World Cross Country Championships | New York City, United States | 4th | 11.8 km | 33:34 |
1985 | World Cross Country Championships | Lisbon, Portugal | 12th | 12 km | 34:02 |
1986 | World Cross Country Championships | Neuchatel, Switzerland | 6th | 12 km | 35:48 |
1987 | World Cross Country Championships | Warsaw, Poland | 7th | 12 km | 37:04 |
1988 | World Cross Country Championships | Auckland, New Zealand | 28th | 12 km | 36:26 |
1989 | World Cross Country Championships | Stavanger, Norway | 31st | 12 km | 41:31 |
Track and field
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abc"Pat PORTER - Athlete Profile".IAAF.
- ^Moore, Kenny."Running on a Rocky Mountain High"Sports Illustrated.March 17, 1986. accessed on September 8, 2008
- ^USA Track and Field Statistics,USATF.org accessed on September 8, 2008
- ^Mens Metres at Sports Reference
- ^Mens Metres at Sports Reference
- ^Without LimitsatIMDbaccessed on September 8, 2008
- ^Trish King at Sports Reference
- ^http://www.legacy.usatf.org/News/Two-time-Olympian-Porter-killed-in-tragic-plane-cr.aspx?feed=news
- ^Archived atGhostarchiveand theWayback Machine:"Pat Porter RMAC Hall of Fame Induction Speech".YouTube.26 July 2012.
- ^"Olympic runner killed when plane crashes in Sedona - FOX 10 News - Phoenix, AZ | KSAZ-TV".Archived fromthe originalon 2012-07-30.Retrieved2012-07-27.
External links
[edit]- Pat PorteratIMDb
- Pat PorteratOlympics at Sports-Reference.com(archived)
- 1959 births
- 2012 deaths
- People from Wadena, Minnesota
- American male long-distance runners
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Olympic track and field athletes for the United States
- Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States
- Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
- FISU World University Games bronze medalists for the United States
- Medalists at the 1987 Summer Universiade
- Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2012