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Friday, February 1, 2008
Where Are They Now?
Fort Worth, TX
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Photo(s) By: TCU Media Relations
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From Running Routes to Running Horses, Mike Renfro - Arlington Heights High School
A Fort Worth native, Mike Renfro was part of the Heights class of 1974. He spent two seasons playing football on the varsity squad. More than three decades later, he still recalls fond memories of winning the city championship and advancing to the playoffs.
“My senior year was the first time in I want to say about 15 years that [a team from] Fort Worth, as they moved into the playoffs, beat a team from Dallas and we did that, so I thought that was quite a feat,” Renfro explained. “We were a pretty good football team, we thought.”
However, the Jackets’ run in the playoffs wouldn’t last long, in part because of a familiar name to most football fans in the state of Texas.
“John Tyler came to town,” Renfro continued, “and they had a guy carrying the ball by the name of Earl Campbell that we had started to hear about. He came through town and put on a great show in Fort Worth and unfortunately beat us and went on to win a state championship.”
As the son of a coach, Renfro was already getting some of the best tutorship as a high school athlete.
“About this time was when my dad retired as an NFL coach,” Renfro said. “He worked with Tom Landry and coached receivers and quarterbacks for the Cowboys from ’67 to ’73. So, I was around some pretty great players and I was getting some pretty good tutelage around the dinner table.”
Renfro took that knowledge with him to TCU, where played until 1978, the year he was selected in the fourth round of the NFL draft by the Houston Oilers. In 1984, Renfro returned to the Metroplex when he was traded to the Dallas Cowboys. He played in Dallas until he retired after the 1987 season.
“I had fell in love with another sport – thoroughbred horse racing,” Renfro said. “I bought a few horses at the end of my playing career. We had some beginners luck. It was a lot of fun and we did it quite a few years – just going to the tracks and buying horses and selling horses. I really fell in love with the sport and kind of left football behind me.”
At that time, there was still no race track in North Texas. However, that was about to change, as approval was given for Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie.
“It was apparent that we were going to open a race track in Dallas/Fort Worth, and I knew the general manager they hired and we opened this track and I went to work for him in ’96 and am still here today.” As the director of corporate sales, Renfro pulls groups into the track during its racing season. In the offseason, he concentrates on other pursuits such as legislative affairs and business development for Lone Star Park.
Renfro is also happy to have the opportunity to sit back and watch his children grow up. One of those children, Clint, has followed his dad to TCU. Clint was a standout player at Southlake Carroll before joining the Horned Frogs two years ago.
With one child still in high school, Renfro is content to maintain the status quo for the foreseeable future.
“You never know,” he said. “We’re just having fun now with the racing and watching the Cowboys do well. We’re just going to keep enjoying the kids and the racing at Lone Star and who knows what the future brings.” •
Mike Renfro spent ten seasons in the NFL running routes as a wide receiver for the Houston Oilers and Dallas Cowboys. Previous to that, Renfro was an all-state player at Arlington Heights before moving on to play college ball at Texas Christian University. These days, Renfro can be found at Lone Star Park, where he is the director of corporate sales.
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