Arthur W. Renner (February 14, 1923 – September 14, 1999) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

for the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

from 1942 to 1946. He played on four

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

teams that were ranked in the top ten in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and was the captain of the

1946 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1946 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1946 Big Nine Conference football season. In their ninth year under head coach was Fritz Crisler, the Wolverines compiled a 6–2–1 record (5–1–1 Big N ...

that was ranked #6 in the United States in the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

. His college football career was interrupted by service in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early years

Renner was born in southwestern

in 1923. His father, Raymond J. Renner, was a

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

native who worked for a tea company. His mother, Mina A. Renner, was a Michigan native. At the time of the

1930 United States Census The United States census of 1930, conducted by the Census Bureau one month from April 1, 1930, determined the resident population of the United States to be 122,775,046, an increase of 13.7 percent over the 106,021,537 persons enumerated during ...

, he lived at

Three Rivers, Michigan Three Rivers is a city in St. Joseph County, Michigan. The population was 7,973 at the time of the 2020 census. Three Rivers derives its name from its location at the confluence of the St. Joseph River and two tributaries, the Rocky and Porta ...

, with his parents and a younger brother, Warren H. Renner.

University of Michigan

Renner enrolled at the

in 1942 and played four years of varsity football for the

Michigan Wolverines football The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...

team under head coach

Fritz Crisler Herbert Orin "Fritz" Crisler (; January 12, 1899 – August 19, 1982) was an American college football coach who is best known as "the father of two-platoon football," an innovation in which separate units of players were used for offense and d ...

. He played at the

end End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: ** End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games **End (gridiron footbal ...

position for Michigan's freshman team in 1942 and for the varsity from 1943 to 1946. After the 1943 season, the ''Michiganensian'' wrote that Renner stood out like a

klieg light A Klieg light is an intense carbon arc lamp especially used in filmmaking. It is named after inventor John Kliegl and his brother Anton Kliegl. Klieg lights usually have a Fresnel lens with a spherical reflector or an ellipsoidal reflector with ...

at the end position. He started all nine games for the 1944 Michigan team that was ranked #8 in the final

. After the 1944 season, Renner was inducted into the

, but he was discharged in the fall of 1945 following the end of

. He was again a starter for the 1945 team that was ranked No. 6 in the final AP poll. Playing against the legendary

1945 Army Cadets football team The 1945 Army Cadets football team was an American football powerhouse that represented the United States Military Academy as an independent and considered to be among the greatest in collegiate history. In their fifth season under head coach E ...

(a team that shut out five opponents, won the

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

, and allowed only four

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

during the entire year), Renner scored Michigan's only touchdown on a pass from Walt Teninga. At the end of the 1945 season, Renner was elected by his teammates as the captain of the

. The 1946 team captained by Renner finished the season ranked No. 6 in the country in the final AP poll. While attending Michigan, he was also a member of

Lambda Chi Alpha Lambda Chi Alpha (), commonly known as Lambda Chi, is a college fraternity in North America which was founded at Boston University in 1909. It is one of the largest social fraternities in North America, with more than 300,000 lifetime members a ...

fraternity, the Triangles and the Vulcans. He graduated from Michigan in 1947 with a Bachelor of Science degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

Later years

Renner was selected by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

as the 56th pick in the

1946 NFL Draft The 1946 National Football League Draft was held on January 14, 1946, at the Commodore Hotel in New York City, New York. The selections were initially withheld from the public out of fear that the newly formed All-America Football Conference wou ...

, but he chose a career in engineering over professional football. In his later years, Renner lived in

Sturgis, Michigan Sturgis is a city in St. Joseph County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 10,994 at the 2010 census. The city is located at the northeast corner of Sturgis Township and at the intersection of US 12 and M-66. Sturgis is just nor ...

. He died there in 1999 at age 76.The Michigan Alumnus, vol. 106, 1999, p. 59.

References

External links

University of Michigan Football Captain: Art Renner, 1946
{{DEFAULTSORT:Renner, Art 1923 births 1999 deaths Michigan Wolverines football players United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marines People from Sturgis, Michigan