Sports: Football & Track and Field
Born: March 24, 1959
Town: Scotch Plains, New Jersey
Renaldo Nehemiah was born March 24, 1959 in Newark, NJ. The boy nicknamed “Skeets” grew up in Scotch Plains and attended Scotch Plains – Fanwood High School. Renaldo took up hurdling as a 9th grader on a dare. He injured his hamstring as a sophomore and the injury still nagged him as a junior. The injury was treated by the Jets team doctor and, once healed, it never bothered him again. Finally, as a senior in 1977, Renaldo was completely healthy. Soon he established himself as the nation’s top prep hurdler under coach Jean Poquette and was recognized by Track & Field News as the 1977 High School Athlete of the Year.
Poquette convinced his young star that training should be hard and races should be easy. At times he trained on 45″ hurdles—3″ higher than college hurdles. Renaldo’s work ethic would become the stuff of legend.
Renaldo stood 5’9″ and weighed around 150 pounds when he graduated—small for a hurdler who had already cracked the 13-second barrier in the 100 meters. He grew almost four inches and packed on 20 pounds of muscle after taking his show south to the University of Maryland. As a freshman, Renaldo was the NCAA champion. As a sophomore he was the star of the prestigious Penn Relays, being named MVP of the meet, and won another NCAA title.
Prior to his junior year, Renaldo decided to accept an offer by Puma to turn pro. He continued to study at Maryland, but by the rules of the day he was no longer eligible to run for the school. Renaldo started to focus on the 1980 Olympics, hoping to peak in time for the Summer Games. In 1979, he obliterated the world record in the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 12.91 seconds in a meet at the University of Illinois, but the record was not counted because of a slight tail wind.
Renaldo’s only rival was Greg Foster of UCLA. For several years, they were so far ahead of the competition that it was only matter of who would finish first, and who would finish second when they were in the same meet. In 1981, both turned in their best times in the same 1981 race. Renaldo edged Foster with a time of 12.93 seconds in the 110 meters. That record has since been broken, but in three decades only a few hundredths of a second have been shaved off it.
Unfortunately for Renaldo and hundreds of other athletes, the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Olympics in protect of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. Unwilling to wait another four years to perform on the world stage, he accepted an offer from the San Francisco 49ers to play pro football. He joined the 49ers in 1982 and was a member of the Super Bowl XIX champions in 1984. As a football player, Renaldo’s main value was stretching the defense and drawing two defenders deep down the field.
Renaldo returned to hurdling in 1986 after the 49ers drafted Jerry Rice. Renaldo was 20 pounds heavier, and it showed, as Foster was able to defeat him consistently. Renaldo continued to compete through the 1991 track season. At 32, he could still run the 110 in under 13.2 seconds, but that was no longer world-class time. Renaldo did some coaching before becoming a sports agent, managing their track & field clients for Octagon.
During his track career, Renaldo set eight world records as a hurdler, all between 1979 and 1982—in the 50 meters, 50 yards (twice), 55 meters, 60 yards and 110 meters (three times). He also won ABC’s Superstars competition four times between 1981 and 1986.