Bob Neal (born November 14, 1942 in

Morristown, Tennessee Morristown is a city in and the county seat of Hamblen County, Tennessee, United States. Morristown also extends into Jefferson County on the western and southern ends. The city's population was recorded to be 30,431 at the 2020 United States cen ...

, raised in Chicago) is an American sportscaster.

Career

Bob Neal has been involved for forty years with television and radio at the national and local level. He is currently engaged in teaching sports journalism at the University of Georgia and Georgia State University, and is the anchor of the syndicated "Play To Win" NFL and college football show, independently produced. Neal has also been a familiar voice for

Turner Sports Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that is responsible for sports broadcasting, sports broadcasts on its parent company's various channels in the United States, including TBS (American TV ch ...

on its national

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

coverage for

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

and TBS for telecasts for 23 years. The Chicago bred broadcaster's lengthy resume also includes play-by-play for the NBA and NCAA college football games on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

. At TNT and TBS, Neal has been the broadcast voice for

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...

events, NFL football, Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks and

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

soccer. Previously, Neal was the radio voice of the NFL

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

(1975–81, 1995–97) and news and sports director of

WXIA-TV WXIA-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL (channel 36). Both stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the north en ...

in Atlanta. From 2008-2013, Bob was anchor of ''Talkin' Football'', ''Talkin' Hoops'', "SportsNite", and offered play-by-play for college football, basketball and baseball for Comcast Sports Network, a division of NBC Sports Group. In addition to his current hosting of Play To Win, his studio hosting experience also includes the award winning Football Saturday on TBS, the 1986 and 1990

Goodwill Games The Goodwill Games were an international sports competition created by Ted Turner in reaction to the political troubles surrounding the Olympic Games of the 1980s. In 1979, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused the United States and other ...

and TNT's Sunday night NFL broadcasts. Neal's long tenured association with Turner Sports began in 1977, producing and hosting ''Sports Week'' on TBS, the first national sports show on cable.

Accolades

Neal's accolades include five Georgia Area Emmys, three Associated Press Awards, and a share of five national Emmys for his role in

telecasts. Neal is also the recipient of two Cable ACE Awards for SEC Football and NBA Coverage as well as the Masters Water Ski Tournament for Turner Sports. Neal is the 2012 recipient of the ''Lindsey Nelson Award'', in recognition of career contributions to broadcasting, presented by the National Football Foundation. Most recently Neal was honored as Distinguished Journalism Alumni by Northern Illinois University and has been inducted into The Silver Circle of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS). Bob is a member of the Board of Governors of NATAS southeast.

Personal

Neal studied at Northern Illinois University and the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and holds a BA degree in Journalism from NIU. Neal resides with his wife, Sally, a nationally recognized voice talent agent, in

Smyrna, Georgia Smyrna is a city in Cobb County, Georgia, United States. It is located northwest of Atlanta, and is in the Interstate 285 (Georgia), inner ring of the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. It is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs–Alpharetta MSA, which i ...

. His son

Dave Neal Dave Neal, son of Bob Neal and Melody Gadziala, is a two-time Emmy Award winning American sportscaster currently employed by ESPN. He has 2 sons, Sam and Lil Pete. He is from Atlanta, Georgia and attended Lakeside High School. Broadcast caree ...

handles play-by-play for football, basketball and baseball on ESPN, including the ESPN SEC Network. Neal's son Rob, an attorney, is involved with professional golf tournaments.

External links

* http://www.playingtowin.tv
Atlanta Hawks profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neal, Bob 1942 births Living people American radio personalities American television sports announcers Atlanta Falcons announcers Atlanta Flames announcers Atlanta Hawks announcers Association football commentators College basketball announcers in the United States College football announcers Golf writers and broadcasters National Basketball Association broadcasters National Football League announcers National Hockey League broadcasters People from Atlanta People from Morristown, Tennessee College baseball announcers in the United States North American Soccer League (1968–1984) commentators