Jesse "Cab" Renick was born in Love County, Oklahoma in 1917 and grew up playing basketball on a dirt court in Marietta. His love for the game continued and, after graduating high school, he began playing for Hale's Tire Shop, an Amateur Athletic Union (AA) team.

Two years of AAU experience landed Cab on the squad at Murray State College in Tishomingo, Oklahoma where he played both basketball and football and was named All-Missouri Valley Conference in both sports.

He then went on to play in the starting lineup for the Oklahoma A&M University Aggies (now Oklahoma State University) in Stillwater until leaving to serve in World War II for the U.S. Navy.
After leaving the Navy in 1945, Cab jumped back into his playing career and joined the AAU powerhouse Phillips 66ers. In 1948, Cab and four 66ers teammates joined five players from the University of Kentucky and four other players from around the U.S. to represent the United States Olympic Team in London, England. Cab, as team captain, helped lead the U.S. to an Olympic gold medal becoming one of only three First Americans to win an Olympic gold medal.

After the Olympics, he returned to the United States and began teaching and coaching at the Albuquerque Indian School.