CCBoy
06-23-2011, 12:35 AM
Catching Up With . . .
Alumni Profile: Mel Renfro
DallasCowboys.com Report
http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/news.cfm?id=B922082C-093D-CAC8-A38E223EC912297C
You've cut back on your activity, pulling back on some of your charity work, kind of taking it a little easier?
Renfro: "Yeah, in 2009 I had five MRIs and bone scans in the span of about a month. I've got some pain issues and nerve damage, and I've kind of slowed down. It's nothing major, but something I've got to take care of. Like I said, just kind of slowed me down a little bit."
Some things left over from the day, playing football?
Renfro: "That and old age (69), a combination of both. You play that type of game, it's a physical game, it's a collision sport, and you're going to have some problems later on in life. And I look at the game nowadays, and I see those guys hitting the way they hit and all that, and I just, well, I kind of feel sorry for them because 15 years from now, 20 years from now, they're going to suffer. I mean, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when because the body wasn't designed to play football - the body wasn't designed to play several sports - so you are going to hurt."
A lot of people want to point out you make this amount of money and that amount of money, but you really sacrifice your body don't you?
Renfro: "Well, you really love the game. You grew up playing the game, you love the game, you're an athlete and you wouldn't trade it for anything. If you go back, you would do it again. It's something that's in your blood. You're going to suffer because of it, but that's what you have to give up."
Noticed that the third year you were playing you suffered a broken ankle?
Renfro: "Actually that third year, Coach Landry switched me to running back. The first game, we were playing the New York Giants, I caught a pass over the middle and was two yards from scoring, and Henry Carr fell on my ankle and broke my ankle. I actually was out six weeks. I came back and played one game on offense and just couldn't get there so Landry put me back on defense at safety to allow my ankle to heal. The next year I was back to safety fulltime."...
Alumni Profile: Mel Renfro
DallasCowboys.com Report
http://www.dallascowboys.com/news/news.cfm?id=B922082C-093D-CAC8-A38E223EC912297C
You've cut back on your activity, pulling back on some of your charity work, kind of taking it a little easier?
Renfro: "Yeah, in 2009 I had five MRIs and bone scans in the span of about a month. I've got some pain issues and nerve damage, and I've kind of slowed down. It's nothing major, but something I've got to take care of. Like I said, just kind of slowed me down a little bit."
Some things left over from the day, playing football?
Renfro: "That and old age (69), a combination of both. You play that type of game, it's a physical game, it's a collision sport, and you're going to have some problems later on in life. And I look at the game nowadays, and I see those guys hitting the way they hit and all that, and I just, well, I kind of feel sorry for them because 15 years from now, 20 years from now, they're going to suffer. I mean, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when because the body wasn't designed to play football - the body wasn't designed to play several sports - so you are going to hurt."
A lot of people want to point out you make this amount of money and that amount of money, but you really sacrifice your body don't you?
Renfro: "Well, you really love the game. You grew up playing the game, you love the game, you're an athlete and you wouldn't trade it for anything. If you go back, you would do it again. It's something that's in your blood. You're going to suffer because of it, but that's what you have to give up."
Noticed that the third year you were playing you suffered a broken ankle?
Renfro: "Actually that third year, Coach Landry switched me to running back. The first game, we were playing the New York Giants, I caught a pass over the middle and was two yards from scoring, and Henry Carr fell on my ankle and broke my ankle. I actually was out six weeks. I came back and played one game on offense and just couldn't get there so Landry put me back on defense at safety to allow my ankle to heal. The next year I was back to safety fulltime."...