Renato Gei was born on February 1, 1921 in Brescia.
He debuted professionally at just 16 years of age with Brescia in Serie C. That year he scored the decisive goal in the promotion play off which sent the Rondinelle up to Serie B. He stayed until 1941, a season in which he was top scorer in Serie B. He was signed by Torino and then sent to Florence in the deal which brought Romeo Menti to Turin. In his first year he scored 18 goals. He stayed in Florence until 1948 (with the exception of the war years when he returned to Brescia) when he signed for Sampdoria. During his period in Genoa, he also earned two Nazionale caps in friendlies against Switzerland and Turkey. In 1953 he returned to Brescia and played for his hometown team for another two years. His final professional season was with Pavia in Serie C in 1955-56.
Once he stopped playing, he became a manager. His first job was with Sampdoria together with Eraldo Monzeglio. After two good years he moved across the divide and became head coach of Genoa in Serie B, taking them back to the first tier with an 11-point lead over second placed Napoli and Modena. That year, 1962, Genoa also won the Cup of the Alps. In 1963 he went back to Brescia in Serie B and after a first year characterised by a 7-point docking which did not allow the Rondinelle to get promotion, in his second he won the Serie B championship and led the team to safety in Serie A for another two years.
In 1967 he became manager of Lazio. The Biancocelesti had just been relegated and were looking for a prompt return to Serie A. But it was not a good year for Lazio who struggled and even risked relegation. He was sacked after 24 games and substituted by Bob Lovati.
In 1968 he became head coach at Lecco but at the end of the season they were relegated to Serie C. In 1969 he was on the bench for Atalanta in Serie B and the Bergamaschi avoided relegation by just one point. After a brief stint with Casertana, he became head coach of Brescia in 1973. After the first half of the Serie B season the Rondinelle were last, but he managed to guide them to safety. He started the 1973-74 season but was sacked half way. His final years as manager were with Parma in 1975 and Seregno for 1976-77.
At Lazio he was not one of those managers who will be remembered, but the team was pretty poor and continued the scoring drought that had characterised the previous seasons.
Gei died on May 20, 1999, in Nave near Brescia.
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