NFLHS.com will introduce you to some of high school football's greatest names during the 2005 season. Every week we will feature a different player or coach from a different era. Some of them have gone on to greatness in the NFL - all the way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, even - but others have remained at the high school level, staying true to their calling.
We hope you enjoy these stories - if you'd like to share your own legend of high school football with us, please email it to nflhs@nfl.com.
By Dave Krider, NFLHS.com
Mel Renfro is enshrined in 10 halls of fame - including the national high school, college and pro levels.
Surprisingly, the biggest influence on his fabled athletic career may have been a woman - Mrs. Leona Honeywell, his fifth grade teacher at Boise Elementary School in Portland, Ore.
"Mrs. Honeywell pulled me aside one day and I thought she was going to lay it (some type of punishment) on me," the 63-year-old Renfro said during a recent interview. "She said, 'I see something special in you.' She really set the standard to encourage me to keep doing what I was doing. She really lifted me up. She saw that I was the best athlete and that other kids followed me around. She saw my leadership qualities. Back then I had no clue what she was talking about."
In 1996, Renfro gladly gave his former teacher some major payback. He related, "In my (pro) Hall of Fame induction speech, I thanked her on national TV. Her daughter called and said that she was in a retirement home in San Diego. I drove from Canton (Ohio) to San Diego and spent an afternoon with her. She was in her 90s. She didn't really follow my career that much, but she was delighted to see me. It was a blessing for me to be able to thank her."
Renfro's father and three older brothers started him playing football at age six in a park, about three blocks from their home. "We were always in the park playing," he noted. "My dad loved sports and always played. We even built hurdles on the side of our house. My brothers all played high school football and track (at Portland Jefferson). I kind of followed all their games. I'd be the little kid under the bleachers."
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Mel Renfro
Photo courtesy NFHS |
When he reached Jefferson High, Renfro came under the influence of varsity coach Tom DeSylvia, whom he calls "a father figure." Renfro had been a quarterback, but as a sophomore, he found a multi-talented junior named Terry Baker already had stamped his claim to that position, so he switched to running back. Due to his immense speed (he could run 100 yards in 9.8 seconds) and versatility, he also played wide receiver and was a standout on defense. Renfro's most embarrassing moment came during his sophomore year in the state-title game. A punt took a "funny bounce" and he fumbled it, allowing South Salem to recover deep in Jefferson territory. "We won pretty convincingly," he noted, "but I got razzed for the next year."
Baker and Renfro formed a formidable combination that crushed one foe after another as the Jefferson Democrats went undefeated for two straight years, each time winning the large-school state championship.
"That was a juggernaut team," acknowledged Gil Brandt, longtime vice president and director of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys. "To have two players like that on a team, who do you try to stop?"
Following Baker's graduation, the 6-0, 195-pound Renfro moved to quarterback as a senior and again marched the powerful Democrats to the state-title game, stretching their winning streak to 34 games. In his final prep game, however, Renfro was to suffer heartbreak as Jefferson was nipped by Medford, 7-6.
"They returned a punt for a touchdown," Renfro said. "I was preparing to make the tackle and I was clipped. It was shown clearly on the highlight film. There were no instant replays in those days. That sticks in your memory. It will never go away. Our coach talked about it until he passed away."
Renfro estimates that he averaged around 10.5 yards per carry during his high school career. He set a city record as a junior by scoring 38 points against Cleveland - with most of his touchdowns from 50 and 60 yards - and a city record with 242 points in one season.
Jefferson was a school of 3,600 in the top four grades and so crowded that the students had to go in shifts. "Jefferson High School, back in those days, we were known as the School of Champions," Renfro points out proudly. "We were so dominant. It was kind of like I was charmed. I remember having only two or three mediocre games in my career."
He climaxed his football career by being named MVP in the East-West Shrine Game in Portland following his senior year.
Renfro's domination extended to track, where he lost just two races in his career. Jefferson won the state title his junior and senior years. As a senior he scored an amazing 31 points as he won the broad jump, high and low hurdles and ran a leg on the championship 4x100 relay. His broad jump record of 24-1 1/4 stood for 41 years.
He calls being named MVP in the national track meet in Los Angeles his prep career highlight. On that day he won the high and low hurdles and was fourth in the broad jump. "I think my legs were just gone (for the broad jump)," he conceded.
Renfro also excelled in football and track at the University of Oregon from 1961-63. He was the Ducks' leading rusher and scorer for all three varsity campaigns. As a sophomore in track, he was first-team All-America, placing second in the 120-yard high hurdles (13.8 seconds) and third in the broad jump as the Ducks won the NCAA team championship.
As a free safety, he once made 15 solo tackles against Ohio State. Oh, and he loved to play against Stanford. In one of those meetings, he touched the ball only four times, but produced three touchdowns.
Following the 1962 campaign, Renfro was believed to be the favorite to win the coveted Heisman Trophy. He was watching his old Jefferson teammate, Terry Baker, now playing for archrival Oregon State, in the televised Liberty Bowl game.
"He (Baker) returned a bootleg 99 yards for a (winning) touchdown," Renfro said. "I said, 'Uh, oh.' If he doesn't do that, I'd have won the Heisman. I was rooting for him, but at that price - that's life."
In 1964, Renfro was a second-round draft pick by the Dallas Cowboys, for whom he starred for 14 years. He came to the Cowboys with great offensive credentials, but coach Tom Landry soon put him on defense, and he was a standout cornerback and kick returner for most of his career.
Renfro took the NFL by storm in his rookie year, returning kickoffs, punts and interceptions for almost 2,000 yards - more than any of the Cowboys' running backs had that year.
For the first 10 years he was in the NFL, Renfro made the Pro Bowl - a record at that time. He was all-pro five times. He played in four Super Bowls - winners in 1971 and 1977. He led the league with 10 interceptions in 1969 and had 52 for his career. He averaged 26.4 yards on kickoff returns and 7.7 on punt returns over 14 campaigns.
The Dallas star can't pick one game as his greatest, but he does list a series of four in a row that will stick out in his mind forever. He sets the stage by pointing out, "From 1966 through 1969, we lost playoff games. We couldn't seem to get over the hump. Books were being written, saying that the Cowboys couldn't win the big one."
In the 1970 playoffs, Detroit was about to score when Renfro made a crucial interception with just seconds left to preserve a victory. "People just went nuts," he described. "I ran 15 yards before I was tackled.
"Looking at the highlight films (after the game), just as I intercepted, Landry was clasping his hands in prayer (that Renfro would not fumble the return) on the sidelines. Then it (the camera) flashes back to me. All I was thinking about was scoring and when I go down he throws up his hands in joy.
"The next week against the 49ers, I had an interception in the third quarter which propelled us to the Super Bowl. We lost to the Baltimore Colts, but we won the next year.
"I went to the Pro Bowl after we lost to the Colts. I shut out Paul Warfield and Warren Wells. I returned punts of 83 and 59 yards for touchdowns and I was named offensive MVP even though I was playing defense.
"Those four games are the highlight of my pro football career."
After retirement from the Cowboys in 1978, Renfro coached and scouted one year for the Los Angeles Express in the USFL and two years with the St. Louis Cardinals. He also "dabbled in the fast-food restaurant business unsuccessfully. I gave it up after four years."
He does a lot of charity work and for the past seven years has worked for the Starfish Foundation, which helps youngsters overcome substance abuse. He is very enthusiastic about another current job, working for 1st Team Lending Mortgage Company in Dallas.
Renfro is a member of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano. He says, "I'm a born-again Christian. I go to church regularly and try to minister to those in need whenever I can."
He used to play a lot of golf, but his biggest hobby today is traveling. "I like to get on the road and drive," he said. He still follows the Cowboys, either in person or through television.
An arthritic hip, which has slowed down his physical activities, probably will have to be replaced, Renfro admits. He also has experienced "a lot of pain in my neck and shoulders for a long time. I had three operations on my right ankle as a player and had some cartilage removed from my knee. I lived a fairly healthy life until age 55. The pain began coming and it's (still) there."
Though his athletic career has taken a toll on him physically, Renfro is quick to acknowledge, "Sports are a part of my life. I don't know if I could have survived without it. It kept me focused. I lived in the inner city in north Portland. It was an impoverished area where African-Americans stayed. A lot of my buddies fell into crime and substance abuse."
Even though he lives in Dallas now, Renfro "was an institution in Portland and he still is today," Brandt affirms.
No matter where he goes, in fact, Renfro is recognized. "It surprises me sometimes when I go around the country," he confesses.
Being a living legend "takes me back to my childhood, watching legends play. I would go 'ooh and aah' and want to be like those guys. I'm very thankful for the ability God gave me. It's just fantastic to walk in the shoes of the greatest to play the game."
NEXT WEEK'S LEGEND: Greenville, Miss., Coleman WR-QB Willie Richardson.
PREVIOUS LEGENDS:
Story courtesy Red Line Editorial, Inc.
Legends of HS Football: Mel Renfro
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