Patrick ("Pat") Ralph Porter (May 31, 1959 – July 26, 2012) was an American distance runner. Born in

Wadena, Minnesota Wadena ( ) is a city in Otter Tail and Wadena counties in the State of Minnesota. It is about one hundred sixty miles northwest of the Minneapolis – Saint Paul metro area. The population was 4,325 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat ...

, he graduated from Adams State in 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 the

10000 meters The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance running, long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is com ...

at the 1984 and 1988

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. In 1983 he set the World Record for a road 10K at 27:31.8. He won the silver medal at the

1985 IAAF World Cup The 4th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on October 4–6, 1985, at the Bruce Stadium in Canberra, Australia. Overall results ...

in Canberra, Australia, getting nipped at the tape by Ethiopia's

Wodajo Bulti Wodajo Bulti (born 11 March 1957) is a retired Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialized in the 5000 metres, 10000 metres and cross-country running. Career Wodajo was one of the most significant Ethiopian middle and long-distance runners ...

by six hundredths of a second.

Running career

Early career

Porter had a personal record of 4:29 in the mile while running for Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado. He was not heavily recruited to run in college. He is a 1982 alumnus

Adams State College Adams State University is a public university in Alamosa, Colorado. The university's Adams State Grizzlies athletic teams compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. History Adams State was founded in 1921 as a teacher's college. Billy ...

Alamosa, Colorado Alamosa is a home rule municipality and the county seat of Alamosa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 9,806 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is the commercial center of the San Luis Valley in south-central Colora ...

, and flourished under the training of coach

Joe Vigil Joe Vigil is an American track and field coach who specializes in long-distance running. In 2015, he was the recipient of the Legend Coach Award from USA Track & Field. Early life Born in Antonito, Colorado, Vigil moved to Alamosa, Colorado, ...

. At Adams State, Porter won 6 RMAC championships, and 3 national NAIA championships.

Post collegiate

Porter was best known for his

cross country running Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...

accomplishments. He won a record eight consecutive

USA Cross Country Championships The USA Cross Country Championships is the annual national championships for cross country running in the United States. The championships is generally held in mid-February and it serves as a way of designating the country's national champion, as ...

from 1982 to 1989. Porter also represented the United States at the World Cross Country Championships each 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 the

Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, 41 events in athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub ...

- 10000 metres. 1988
Porter did not advance to the

Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul a total number of 42 events in athletics were contested: 24 by men and 18 by women. There were a total number of 1617 participating athletes from 149 countries. Medal summary Men Women * * = Athletes wh ...

- 10000 metres final after finishing 11th in 28:45.04 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 runner

Lasse Virén Lasse Artturi Virén (born 22 July 1949) is a Finnish former long-distance runner, winner of four gold medals at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics. Virén recaptured the image of the "Flying Finns" promoted by runners like Hannes Kolehmainen, Paa ...

in ''

Without Limits ''Without Limits'' is a 1998 American biographical sports film. It is written and directed by Robert Towne and follows the relationship between record-breaking distance runner Steve Prefontaine and his coach Bill Bowerman, who later co-founded ...

'', a biographical film about American distance legend

Steve Prefontaine Steve Roland "Pre" Prefontaine (January 25, 1951 – May 30, 1975) was an American long-distance runner who from 1973 to 1975 set American records at every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters. He competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics, and ...

. He was married to fellow U.S. 1988 Olympic Team member high jumper

Trish King Patricia Morley "Trish" Porter (née King) (born August 27, 1962 in Atherton, California) is an American track and field athlete, specializing in the high jump. She represented her native country at the Athletics at the 1988 Summer Olympics – Wo ...

Honor

Porter was inducted in the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

Hall of Fame in 1987. Porter was inducted in the RMAC

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

in July 2012. Only days before his death, on July 20, Porter had been inducted into the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

and was also inducted into the Adams State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000 in

Death

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 the

Sedona Airport Sedona Airport is a non-towered airport located southwest of the central business district of Sedona, Arizona, Sedona, a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. The airport covers and has one runway and one heli ...

runway 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.

Competition record

Cross country

Track and field

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Pat 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 of the United States Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade bronze medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1987 Summer Universiade Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 2012