Hercules Gennaro Renda (September 5, 1917 – October 12, 2005) 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 wi ...
player and coach. He played 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 ...
football team from 1937 to 1939. He was an assistant football coach at Michigan under
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 ...
from 1940 to 1941. He later served as a high school football and track coach in
Pontiac, Michigan for many years and was inducted into the Michigan High School Coaches Hall of Fame.
Early years
![Hercules Powder](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Hercules_Powder.jpg)
A native of West Virginia born to
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
immigrant parents, Renda grew up in
Cabin Creek in the state's coal country. He was named after a brand of mining dynamite ("Hercules Dynamite" and "Hercules Powder") that was popular among West Virginia coal miners at the time.
Renda became a star athlete at East Bank High School in
East Bank, West Virginia. During the summers, he worked as a "tippler" at the coal mine.
[ During the school year, he played basketball and football and ran the dash and low hurdles for the track team. He was badly injured in a high school basketball game when he was "bumped while in the air with both feet off the floor and landed on his head."][ Renda later said that five weeks in the hospital taught him that football was the best and safest sport after all.][
As a high school senior in 1935, Renda drew attention from the West Virginia press for his skill as a running back. The state's leading newspaper, the ''Charleston Gazette'' wrote in October 1935: "In Hercules Renda, East Bank will show its greatest running back of all time. Renda has scored 11 times for East Bank this year and his runs have varied from 10 to 95 yards." In November 1935, the ''Gazette'' called him "stocky Hercules Renda, a fast stepping but nevertheless rugged halfback, who has been running wild all season." (Twenty years later, NBA Hall of Famer Jerry West attended East Bank High; West was nicknamed "Zeke from Cabin Creek".)
]
University of Michigan
Two 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 ...
alumni, Lon Barringer and Rocco Gorman, recruited Renda and his high school teammate, Joe Savilla, to play football for the Michigan Wolverines. Renda and Savilla both enrolled at 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 ...
. ''The Michigan Daily
''The Michigan Daily'' is the weekly student newspaper of the University of Michigan. Its first edition was published on September 29, 1890. The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the University's administration and other stu ...
'' depicted the two West Virginia recruits as something of an odd pair—Renda was a 5-foot, 4 inch halfback, and Savilla was a 6-foot, 4 inch tackle. Despite his small size (5 feet 4 inches and 152 pounds), Renda played for Michigan's freshman team in 1936 and for the varsity team from 1937 to 1939. His performance on the freshman team in 1936 was summed up as follows: "On the offense he runs like a frightened deer and is deathly with his tackles while on defense."[
After one of his first games in 1937, the ''Michigan Alumnus'' wrote:]"And once more Michigan has a colorful football hero. Little Hercules Renda, five feet four inches 'tall' and 152 pounds of relentless energy, ran, squirmed and tackled his way into the hearts of thousands on thousands of Wolverine rooters whose frenzied cheers welcomed his first great touchdown catch and plunge, and warmed excitedly to his never-ceasing battling. Renda never stopped. ... Michigan took little Hercules Renda to its heart last Saturday and, unless all signs are wrong, this midget from the hills of West Virginia will write his name high in the Wolverine athletic annals."
Press coverage of Renda often focused on his short stature, and often referred to him as the "midget" from West Virginia. An Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
story in 1937 reported that Renda was "just about the shortest first-string football player in the U.S." but noted that he "travels with the power of a tank."
Michigan 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 ...
called Renda the "greatest football player in America for his height."[ During the 1938 and 1939 seasons, Renda saw limited action, as Michigan had ]Forest Evashevski
Forest "Evy" Evashevski (February 19, 1918 – October 30, 2009) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played college football at the University of Michigan from 1938 to 1940 and with the Iowa Pre-Flight ...
and Tom Harmon
Thomas Dudley Harmon (September 28, 1919 – March 15, 1990), known as Tom Harmon, as well as by the nickname "Old 98", was an American football player, military pilot, actor, and sports broadcaster.
Harmon grew up in Gary, Indiana, and playe ...
in the backfield. He became principally a blocking back in the 1938 and 1939 seasons. At the time of his death in 2005, the University of Michigan issued a press release stating, "Renda may have been one of the shortest football players in U-M history, standing only 5-3, but his speed and quickness plus his 17-inch calves made him an extremely tough running back to tackle."[
]
Assistant coach under Crisler
After graduating from Michigan, Renda was hired as an assistant football coach at Michigan. He served as an assistant coach under 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 ...
during the 1940 and 1941 seasons. Michigan finished with a record of 13 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie during Renda's two seasons as an assistant coach.
World War II
With the entry of the United States into 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 opposing ...
, Renda joined the U.S. Army and reported to Fort Custer Training Center
Fort Custer Training Center, often known simply as Fort Custer, is a federally owned and state-operated Michigan Army National Guard training facility, but is also used by other branches of the armed forces and armed forces from Illinois, Indiana ...
in December 1942. In June 1942, he was transferred to the U.S. Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...
and sent to Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
, for training as an officer and physical instructor.
High school coaching career
After the war, Renda had a long career as a high school football coach. He coached at Flint Central High School. From 1948 to 1951, he was the head football coach at Pontiac High School in Pontiac, Michigan. Renda's teams won 18 games, lost 25 and tied 2 during his five years at Pontiac High School. Renda told reporters in March 1953 that he had been fired by the school board for objecting to its "win-or-else" policy. Renda later returned to the Pontiac schools as head track coach and assistant football coach at Pontiac Northern High School until his retirement in 1982.[ He was inducted into the Michigan High School Coaches Hall of Fame.][
Renda died in October 2005 at age 88 while taking his daily walk on the track at Pontiac Northern High School.] A few years after his death in 2005, a local paper wrote: "Herk spent more than five decades in Pontiac helping students as a coach, administrator and just being the ultimate good neighbor. Since his passing a couple years ago, the world hasn't quite been as good a place. Everybody who knew Herk will tell you that."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Renda, Hercules
1917 births
2005 deaths
American people of Italian descent
High school football coaches in Michigan
Michigan Wolverines football coaches
Michigan Wolverines football players
People from Cabin Creek, West Virginia
Sportspeople from Pontiac, Michigan
Players of American football from West Virginia