Portrait of Mel Renfro

Birthday profile

Mel Renfro

Mel Renfro, American football player and coach

Born
December 30, 1941
Age in 2026
85
Zodiac sign
Capricorn
Birth year
1941

About Mel Renfro

Melvin Lacy Renfro (born December 30, 1941) is an American former professional football player who spent his entire 14-year career as a cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. == Early life == Born in Houston, Texas, Renfro moved with his family to Portland, Oregon, and he attended its Jefferson High School, starring as a two-way football player and track and field athlete. As a sophomore and junior, he contributed to his team achieving a 23–0 record, including consecutive Class A-1 football state championships in 1957 and 1958. The Democrats' 1958 team is regarded as one of the greatest in Oregon prep history, which had a backfield that included him at halfback, quarterback Terry Baker (1962 Heisman Trophy winner at Oregon State), halfback Mickey Hergert (one of the leading ground gainers in the nation at Lewis & Clark College) and his brother Raye Renfro at fullback (in 1958 he broke a Portland Interscholastic League record with 24 touchdowns). After Baker graduated, Renfro saw playing time at quarterback as a senior in 1959 and was also an all-state selection at running back, as Jefferson pursued a third consecutive title. They again advanced to the championship game, played before more than 21,000 at Multnomah Stadium in Portland, but lost 7–6 to Medford. In track as a junior in 1959, he helped Jefferson win the team title by winning the 180-yard low hurdles, the 120-yard high hurdles (breaking the state record) and the broad jump state titles. In 1960, he broke two Oregon junior AAU championship records with a 120-yard high hurdles of 13.9 seconds and 19.3 seconds in the 180-yard low hurdles. Renfro also collected 32 points outscoring every team except one, recording the state record with a 24.1 broad jump and winning the low hurdles, high hurdles and the half-mile relay team.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Mel Renfro timeline

  1. As a sophomore and junior, he contributed to his team achieving a 23–0 record, including consecutive Class A-1 football state championships in 1957 and 1958.
  2. After Baker graduated, Renfro saw playing time at quarterback as a senior in 1959 and was also an all-state selection at running back, as Jefferson pursued.

The world when Mel Renfro was born

Mel Renfro was born in 1941. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1941

  • #1 song"Chattanooga Choo Choo" – Glenn Miller
  • Top movieCitizen Kane
  • Best-selling bookThe Keys of the Kingdom – A.J. Cronin

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJoe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak
  • Top headlineJapan bombs Pearl Harbor — United States enters World War II
  • Technology milestoneFirst commercial television broadcasts (CBS, NBC)
  • Defining fadVictory gardens
  • Notable inventionAerosol spray can
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population133.4M

1941 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Mel Renfro's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19412026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$5,500$435,000
Average income$3,400$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population133.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, NFL. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.