Former UT sprinter Preyor dies at 50

Lamar Preyor, who lettered for the University of Tennessee track team from 1976-78 and in 1980, died Wednesday night at his home in Cincinnati. He was 50.

As a freshman, Preyor ran the first leg of Tennessee's 1976 NCAA champion mile relay that also included Mike Barlow, Ronnie Harris and Jerome Morgan. During the outdoor season of that same year, the quartet teamed up again to take second place in the 4x400 relay at the NCAA Outdoor Championships with Preyor running the third leg. In 1977 the quartet finished first at the SEC Outdoor Championships and placed third at the NCAA Outdoor in the 4x400 relay.

"This news is really sad," former UT coach Stan Huntsman said. "Lamar was a great runner here. He was a fine person and athlete. He was always seen with a smile and was an ideal student-athlete. He will definitely be missed by all of his teammates."

In 1980, after a leg injury forced him to miss both of the 1979 seasons, Preyor ran the third leg on the Vols distance-medley relay and finished second with Solomon Hunter, Sam James and Keith Young at the NCAA Indoor. During the 1980 outdoor season, Preyor won his second national title, teaming with Al Horne, Darryal Wilson and Anthony Blair and ran the third leg on UT's 4x400 relay.

Preyor, Harris and Morgan added anchorman Reggie Jones in the 4x220 yd. relay and set Tennessee's school record with a time of 1 minutes, 21.7 seconds in 1976. The quartet recorded a time of 1:21.5 in the 4x200 relay, which was at the time a world record, while winning the event at the 1976 Penn Relays.

Preyor finished his UT career with five All-America certificates and helped lead Tennessee to three SEC championships. He was seventh in the 200 at the 1976 Olympic Trials and competed in the first round in 1980.