Renaldo Nehemiah
| No. 83 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Wide receiver | ||
| Personal information | |||
| Date of birth: | March 24, 1959 | ||
| Place of birth: | Newark, New Jersey | ||
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Weight: | 177 lb (80 kg) | ||
| Career information | |||
| High school: | Scotch Plains (NJ) Fanwood | ||
| College: | Maryland | ||
| Career history | |||
| Career NFL statistics | |||
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| Player stats at PFR | |||
| Player stats at NFL.com |
Renaldo Nehemiah (born March 24, 1959) is a retired American athlete who specialized in the 110 m hurdles. He was ranked number one in the world for four straight years, and is a former world record holder. Nehemiah is the first man to run the event in under 13 seconds. Nehemiah also played pro football in the National Football League (NFL) as a wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers from 1982 to 1985, before returning to track and field athletics from 1986 to 1991. He now works in sports management.
Nehemiah was nicknamed "Skeets" as a baby because he crawled so fast. The nickname followed him. He was the national junior champion in 1977, the same year he graduated from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School in his hometown of Scotch Plains, New Jersey. Nehemiah's high school personal bests were 12.9 in the 110 meter hurdles and 35.8 in the 300 meter hurdles, so much faster than his competitors that his coach had him compete over 42 inch hurdles (collegiate height) and occasionally train over 45 inch hurdles. He was Track and Field News "High School Athlete of the Year" in 1977. After graduating from Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Nehemiah attended the University of Maryland, where he won three NCAA titles (two indoor).
Nehemiah's sophomore year at UMD proved to be his breakout year. He broke the world record in the 110 meter hurdles twice in two weeks, running 13.16 and then 13.00. He won the 1979 IAAF World Cup and Pan-American Games titles, as well as the second of four U.S. national titles. At the 1979 Penn Relays, Nehemiah anchored UMD's shuttle hurdle relay, 4 × 400 meter relay, and 4 × 200 meter relay, and was named meet MVP. During the relays he recorded an unofficial split of 19.4 seconds in the 4-by-200 meter relay and a 44.3 second split in the 4 × 400 meter relay. Nehemiah described his 400-meter leg as follows:
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