Alfred Earle "Greasy" Neale (November 5, 1891 – November 2, 1973) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

player and coach.

Early life and playing career

Neale was born in

Parkersburg, West Virginia Parkersburg is a city in and the county seat of Wood County, West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Ohio and Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's fourth-largest city and the largest city in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna metrop ...

. Although writers eventually assumed that Neale got his nickname, "Greasy", from his elusiveness on the football field, it actually arose during his youth, from a name-calling joust with a friend.

Baseball career

He played

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

as an

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to cat ...

with the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

between 1916 and 1924 and briefly with the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

for part of the 1921 season. Neale was the starting right fielder for the championship-winning 1919 Reds. He batted .357 in the

1919 World Series The 1919 World Series was the championship series in Major League Baseball for the 1919 season. The 16th edition of the World Series, it matched the American League champion Chicago White Sox against the National League champion Cincinnati Reds. ...

and led the Reds with ten hits in their eight-game series win over the scandalous

White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

. Neale spent all but 22 games of his baseball career with the Reds. He had a career

batting average Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic. Cricket In cricket, a player's batting average is ...

of .259 with 8 home runs, 200 RBI, and 139 stolen bases, and finished in the top ten in stolen bases in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

four times. When football season came around, often he would leave baseball and fulfill his football duties (albeit playing about 90% of a baseball season most years, with the exception of 1919 when he played the entire season, including the World Series).

Football career

Neale also played professional football in the

Ohio League The Ohio League was an informal and loose association of American football clubs active between 1902 and 1919 that competed for the Ohio Independent Championship (OIC). As the name implied, its teams were mostly based in Ohio. It is the direct pr ...

with the

Canton Bulldogs The Canton Bulldogs were a professional American football team, based in Canton, Ohio. They played in the Ohio League from 1903 to 1906 and 1911 to 1919, and the American Professional Football Association (later renamed the National Football Lea ...

in 1917, the

Dayton Triangles The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football League (NFL)) in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their home field, Triangl ...

in 1918, and the

Massillon Tigers The Massillon Tigers were an early professional football team from Massillon, Ohio. Playing in the "Ohio League", the team was a rival to the pre-National Football League version of the Canton Bulldogs. The Tigers won Ohio League championships i ...

in 1919. He starred as an end on

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native ...

's pre-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

as well as the

in 1918 and

in 1919. He coached the Triangles in 1918.

Coaching in college

Neale began his coaching career while still a professional player. He served as the head football coach at

Muskingum College Muskingum University is a private liberal arts college in New Concord, Ohio. Chartered in 1837 as Muskingum College, the institution is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Collectively, the university's alumni are referred to as th ...

(1915),

West Virginia Wesleyan College West Virginia Wesleyan College is a private college in Buckhannon, West Virginia. It has an enrollment of about 1,400 students from 35 U.S. states and 26 countries. The school was founded in 1890 by the West Virginia Conference of the Methodist E ...

(1916–1917), Marietta College (1919–1920),

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries t ...

(1921–1922), the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

(1923–1928), and

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

(1931–1933), compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

record of 82–54–11. He coached basketball for two seasons at Marietta (1919–1921) as well, amassing a record of 26–11. He also served as an assistant football coach at

Yale Bulldogs football The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Yale's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun compe ...

for seven seasons (1934–1940). At Washington & Jefferson, he led his 1921 squad to the Rose Bowl, where the

Presidents President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

played the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club tea ...

to a scoreless tie. At Virginia, Neale was also the head baseball coach from 1923 to 1929, tallying a mark of 80–73–2.

Independent football

Neale later coached the independent professional Ironton Tanks. He and Tanks quarterback Glenn Presnell claimed victories against the NFL's second-place New York Giants and third-place Chicago Bears in 1930. The team folded in 1931.

Coaching in the pros

Neale moved to 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 majo ...

(NFL), serving as head coach of the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

from 1941 to 1950. From 1944 through 1949, Neale's Eagles finished second three times and in first place three times. The Eagles won the NFL Championship in 1948 and again in 1949, and became the first team to win back-to-back titles since the 1940-41 Chicago Bears by shutting out their opponents, beating the Chicago Cardinals 7–0 in the snow-ridden

1948 NFL Championship Game The 1948 NFL Championship Game was the 16th title game of the National Football League (NFL), played at Shibe Park in Philadelphia on December 19. The game was a rematch of the previous year's title game between the defending champion, the Ch ...

and the Los Angeles Rams 14–0 in the

1949 NFL Championship Game The 1949 NFL Championship Game was the 17th title game for the National Football League (NFL), played on December 18 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. It is remembered for the driving rain that caused the field t ...

in a driving rain storm. It was the last championship for the Eagles until 1960. His offense was led by the passing of quarterback

Tommy Thompson Tommy George Thompson (born November 19, 1941) is an American Republican politician who most recently served as interim president of the University of Wisconsin System from 2020 to 2022. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served a ...

, the pass catching of future Hall of Fame end

Pete Pihos Peter Louis Pihos (; October 22, 1923August 16, 2011) was an American football player and coach. Pihos played college football, principally as an end and fullback, for Indiana University from 1942 to 1943 and 1945 to 1946. He was selected as a ...

, and the running of another Hall of Famer,

Steve Van Buren Stephen Wood Van Buren (December 28, 1920 − August 23, 2012) was a Honduran–American professional football player who was a halfback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL) from 1944 to 1951. Regarded as a powerf ...

. He tallied a mark of 66–44–5 including playoff games in his ten seasons with the club. Neale was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

in 1967 and the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

in 1969. Both inductions recognized his coaching career. Neale died in Florida at the age of 81 and is buried at Parkersburg Memorial Gardens in West Virginia.

Head coaching record

College football

NFL

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neale, Greasy 1891 births 1973 deaths American football ends Baseball players from West Virginia Basketball coaches from West Virginia Canton Bulldogs (Ohio League) players Cincinnati Reds players Clarksburg Generals players Cleveland Bearcats players Coaches of American football from West Virginia College Football Hall of Fame inductees Dayton Triangles (Ohio League) players Ironton Tanks players London Tecumsehs (baseball) players Major League Baseball outfielders Marietta Pioneers football coaches Marietta Pioneers men's basketball coaches Massillon Tigers players Minor league baseball managers Muskingum Fighting Muskies football coaches Parkersburg High School alumni Sportspeople from Parkersburg, West Virginia Philadelphia Eagles head coaches Philadelphia Phillies players Players of American football from West Virginia Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees Saginaw Ducks players St. Louis Cardinals coaches Steagles players and personnel Virginia Cavaliers baseball coaches Virginia Cavaliers football coaches Washington & Jefferson Presidents football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football coaches West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats baseball players West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats basketball players West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats football coaches West Virginia Wesleyan Bobcats football players Wheeling Stogies players Yale Bulldogs football coaches