Background
Renick was born on May 14, 1910 and grew up in The Bronx.
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Sam Renick
Edit ProfileCareer
After his career ended, Renick became one of television"s first racing announcers. At the age of thirteen he ran away from home and went to New Orleans, where he worked in the stables at the Fair Grounds Race Course. Renick began his racing career at the age of sixteen.
He eventually became a contract rider for Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt and Harry Warner.
Racing for Vanderbilt on the East Coast and Warner on the West Coast. Jockeys" Guild
During the early years of the Guild, Renick would usually act as master of ceremonies for the organization"s fundraising dances, shows, and dinners.
After Renick"s career as a jockey ended, Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt suggested that he go into broadcasting due to his talkative nature. His first broadcasting job was as Clem McCarthy"s color commentator on races from Belmont Park for the National Broadcasting Company television network.
In 1952, Renick served as an announcer for the first network television broadcast of the Kentucky Derby.
He set the scene for the race, delivered advertising pitches, and performed prerace interviews. In 1954 he called the Preakness Stakes for Columbia Broadcasting System Television with Fred Capossela and Mel Allen. He also broadcast races from New York and Florida as a color commentator on the "Race of the Week" and "Schaefer Circle of Sports" with Capossela and Win Elliot, "Racing From Aqueduct" with Elliot, and as the host of his own show, "Racing with Renick".
Renick died on October 16, 1999 at his home in Manhattan from complications of a severe stroke that he had suffered the previous winter.
