Renda became was 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.