Sam Renfrow is a 49 year old father of three from Ripley, Mississippi.  He has been married to his wife, Pamela, for 25 years, and they have three sons.  Tyler (21 years old) is a junior at Mississippi State, Braeden (18 years old) is a freshman at Northwest Community College, and Landon (16 years old) is a sophomore at DeSoto Central High School. Pamela is a Pediatric ICU nurse at St. Jude.  She stayed home with their three boys for most of their lives, and then went back to nursing school, and is currently pursuing her Masters degree.  The Renfrows live in Nesbit.

Sam’s favorite activities are Crossfit, running (working on the Run Long part), college football, but most importantly, spending time with family. 

Sam attained his degree in Industrial Engineering from Mississippi State, and works as an Area Sales Manager for ChemTreat.  His job primarily involves working as a consultant to help his customers protect their industrial water systems. 

Sam’s was in the Navy for 20 years.  When he retired, his family moved to Ripley.  He worked in various jobs, including driving a milk delivery truck.  His mom was stay at home mom.  Sam is an only child, and grew up spending most of my time outside playing in the woods beside his house.  When he was young, he got involved in activities like Boy Scouts and band.  He played some sports, but was not as involved as youth are today.  When Sam was in 7th grade, he decided he wanted to play football.  Because he was going through puberty, and his voice had changed, they decided he should play quarterback.  Boy, was that a major disaster.  He had watched football, and was a huge Steelers fan, but had not played much football.  Sam had no clue what he was doing.  As he got older, the pressure got more intense to be a “jock”.  He gave up Boy Scouts and band, and tried his best to be a great athlete.  God did not bless him with great coordination or natural athletic ability, but he was willing to work hard.  He gave it his best shot, and became a starter his junior year in high school.  Just before his senior year, Sam decided that football just wasn’t his passion.  He focused more on school, but really lost his identity and fell into some bad behavior.  Now that he wasn’t a “jock” wanna be any more, what would he do? 

Sam was bullied some in Junior high into high school.  That destroyed his self-confidence, and made it tough to be himself.  Prior to 7th grade, He was very confident, and lived life “his way”.  From 7th grade all the way through high school, he tried to be what he thought other people wanted him to be.    As a father, Sam tries to teach his sons to be true to themselves, even when it is not “popular”.  He is blessed to be married to a woman that truly an awesome mother.  Pamela has a strong personality (in a good way), and has taught their boys to take up for themselves.  Sam never knew how to handle the bullying, so he really never stood up for myself. 

When Sam got to college, he felt like he had a clean slate.  He asked a good friend of his that was really popular at college how he got to know so many people.  He told Sam to smile and say hello to everybody he passed walking around campus.  He did, and it worked.  He was finally able to be the person that he really was.  At Northeast Mississippi Community College, he became a college mascot.  Being in the mascot suit was one of the best things that ever happened to him.  He could get away with anything, so he did.  It helped him become much more confident and learn to be himself.  He had a great college experience, and it transformed his life. 

As Sam has shared before, he thinks the biggest question we face in our fitness journey is our “why”. 
“Why” do we get up at 4:15 in the morning to go get physically beat up for an hour.  He thinks the question of “why” is much deeper than our initial answer.  Sam’s parents both passed away within a two year span from cancer.  They had shot periods of their lives when they exercised and ate right, but much of their lives they had a poor diet, smoked, and did not take care of themselves.  They did not go to the doctor regularly, and preventable cancer took both of them.  We live in a time of an obesity epidemic.  Diabetes is rapidly overtaking us.  Genetically modified foods are affecting us in ways we don’t truly understand.  So many distractions keep us on the couch and stagnant.  Sam believes we have to set the example to the younger generation through our example.  We have to get up off the couch, put down the Twinkies, and get busy transforming ourselves.  The community of athletes at the DAC, OBCF, and LHRL have been his fuel over the last 3.5 years as he has worked to be the best version of himself that he can be.