Charles Neal Anderson (born August 14, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for eight seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. Anderson played college football for the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

. He was a first-round pick in the

1986 NFL Draft The 1986 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 29–30, 1986, at the Marriott Marq ...

, and he played professionally for the Chicago Bears of the NFL.

Early years

Anderson was born in

Graceville, Florida Graceville is a city in Jackson County, Florida, United States. It is near the Alabama state line. The population was 2,278 at the 2010 census. A large portion of Graceville's rural acreage is located in Holmes County, Florida, United States. G ...

in 1964.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players
Neal Anderson
Retrieved July 2, 2010. He attended Graceville High School,databaseFootball.com, Players

. Retrieved June 1, 2010. and played for the Graceville Tigers high school football team.

College career

Anderson accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the

in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for

Charley Pell Charles Byron Pell (February 17, 1941 – May 29, 2001) was an American college football player and coach. Pell was an Alabama native and an alumnus of the University of Alabama, where he played college football. He is most notably remember ...

and

Galen Hall Galen Samuel Hall (born August 14, 1940) is a retired American college and professional football coach and player. He is a native of Pennsylvania, and an alumnus of Penn State University, where he played college football. Hall was previously t ...

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Eastern Division o ...

teams from 1982 to

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

,
2012 Florida Football Media Guide
'', University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 76, 87, 90, 94, 95, 97, 98, 101, 104, 116, 121, 141–142, 146–148, 151, 152, 154, 156, 176 (2012). Retrieved September 14, 2012. and shared the Gators' backfield with fullback John L. Williams for four years. Memorably, Anderson ran for a 197 yards versus the

Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30,473 ...

as a freshman in 1982, a seventy-six-yard

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

against the

LSU Tigers The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers are the athletic teams representing Louisiana State University (LSU), a state university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. LSU competes in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Associat ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, and 178 yards and an eighty-yard touchdown against the

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Collegi ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. He was a team captain in 1985, a first-team All-

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...

(SEC) selection in 1985, an Associated Press honorable mention All-American in 1984 and 1985, and the recipient of the Gators'

Fergie Ferguson Award The Forest K. Ferguson Award, commonly known as the "Fergie Ferguson Award," is presented annually to a senior member of the Florida Gators football team in memory of one of the University of Florida's greatest athletes. Namesake The award tak ...

in 1985. In his four years as a Gator, Anderson had fourteen games with 100 yards or more rushing, 639 carries for 3,234 yards rushing and thirty touchdowns, forty-nine

reception Reception is a noun form of ''receiving'', or ''to receive'' something, such as art, experience, information, people, products, or vehicles. It may refer to: Astrology * Reception (astrology), when a planet is located in a sign ruled by another ...

s for 525 yards receiving and two touchdowns, and ninety-seven yards passing. In terms of career rushing yardage, he remains the Gators' third all-time running back behind

Errict Rhett Errict Undra Rhett (born December 11, 1970) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons during the 1990s and early 2000s. Rhett played college football for t ...

and Emmitt Smith. Behind the rushing of Anderson, the rushing and receiving of John L. Williams, the receiving of wide receiver

Ricky Nattiel Ricky Rennard Nattiel ( ; born January 25, 1966), nicknamed "Ricky the Rocket", is an American former college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons during the 1980s and 19 ...

and the passing of

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Kerwin Bell Kerwin Douglas Bell (born June 15, 1965) is an American football coach and former player who has been the head coach of the Western Carolina Catamounts football team since 2021. Bell was born in the rural North Central Florida town of Live Oak ...

, the Gators finished with identical best-in-the-SEC records of 9–1–1 in 1984 and 1985. Anderson graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in public relations in 1986, and was later inducted into the

University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame The University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame includes over 300 former Florida Gators athletes who represented the University of Florida in one or more intercollegiate sports and were recognized as "Gator Greats" for their athletic excellence ...

as a "Gator Great" in 1995. The sportswriters of ''The Gainesville Sun'' selected him as No. 13 among the top 100 all-time greatest Gators from the first 100 years of Florida football in 2006.

Professional career

The Chicago Bears selected Anderson in the first round (27th pick overall) of the

, and he played for the Bears for eight seasons from to .National Football League, Historical Players
Neal Anderson
Retrieved May 13, 2011. He joined the franchise as a rookie immediately following the Bears' championship season. The Bears picked Anderson to back up, and eventually succeed,

Walter Payton Walter Jerry Payton (July 25, 1953Although most sources at the time of his death gave Payton's birth year as 1954, reliable sources subsequently state he was born in 1953. – November 1, 1999) was an American football running back who played ...

, who became the Bears and NFL's all-time rushing leader during his lengthy career. After Payton's retirement in , Anderson became the team's starting running back. Anderson's best years came during the late 1980s, where he rushed for over 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons. In all three seasons, Anderson scored over ten touchdowns and averaged over four yards per carry. Ultimately, his best season came in , when he rushed for 1,275 yards, received 434 yards, and scored 15 touchdowns. He was invited to the

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

in , 1989, and . Over his eight-year career, Anderson appeared in 116 regular season games, and started 91 of them; he amassed 6,166 yards and scored 51 touchdowns rushing, and 2,763 yards and 20 touchdowns receiving—a career total of 71 touchdowns. Anderson's career was shortened by injuries and the Bears' fall-out during the early 1990s. He is currently the Bears' third all-time franchise rusher, behind Payton and Matt Forté. Anderson says his favorite memory from his NFL career was December 2, 1990, when he scored a 50 yard game-winning touchdown on a pass from Jim Harbaugh against the Detroit Lions, which eliminated them from the playoffs and secured an appearance by the Bears. "I caught a touchdown pass against Detroit at the end of the game. And that put us in the playoffs. One of the few things I remember was being under the pile and everybody jumping on top of me. All of the guys in the locker room called me 'The Cuz.' And I could just hear people saying: 'The Cuz! The Cuz!'"

NFL career statistics

Life after football

Anderson now lives with his wife and their three children in the Gainesville area, where he helped found a bank and owns a peanut farm.Pat Forde,
Pressure, pigeons and playoff
" ESPN.com (November 2, 2010). Retrieved November 3, 2010. He is active in the community. He is a big fan of professional wrestling and attended

Wrestlemania XI WrestleMania XI was the 11th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on April 2, 1995, at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. A t ...

. In 1998, Anderson helped found, and is now on the board of directors of, Community Bank and Trust of Florida, a bank with 11 locations in and near Gainesville.

References

Bibliography

* Carlson, Norm, ''University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators'', Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). . * Golenbock, Peter, ''Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory'', Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). . * Hairston, Jack, ''Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told'', Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). . * McCarthy, Kevin M.,
Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football
', Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). . * Nash, Noel, ed., ''The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football'', Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). . {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Neal 1964 births Living people American football running backs Chicago Bears players Florida Gators football players National Conference Pro Bowl players People from Jackson County, Florida