Never Before, Never Again - THE Fight of the 20th century

A day or two before Refugio High was to hold its 1954 graduation, near the end of the school day, a real fistfight took place in the high school principal's office. Robert "Bob" Renfro was the principal. The fight erupted when Superintendent A. R. Pointer burst into Renfro's office for the purpose of initiating a fight with the principal. And it happened, to the astonishment of everyone: students, fans, coaches, to the astonishment of everyone who heard about it.

Pointer Renfro

Some years later Pat Freeman, then (1954) a senior, told me that when the fight took place, he was in the typing room taking a makeup test so he could graduate. His teacher left the room quickly upon hearing the fight going on a couple of doors down the hall.

After Pat had given me this information, I asked him how he did on the makeup.

"I never knew," Pat replied. "I just went on to graduation with my classmates and passed through the line where I too was given a diploma."

Yet more years later (2001 or thereabouts) I had the opportunity to visit with Lorraine Renfro (Bob's widow). What was the fight all about? I asked her. \

"It was about the upcoming school board election and Bob's firm refusal to support Sam Chamberlain, to Pointer's consternation."

Who won the fight? Most in the know said Bob won, for he had been a boxing champion when an undergrad in Sam Houston U., Huntsville.

But, as history has recorded, Sam Chamberlain won his election and was a member of the school board for several years.

The official response to the fight?

Pointer and Renfro were fired immediately.