- Greasy Neale
NFL PlayerCoach
Name=Earle "Greasy" Neale
ImageWidth
DateOfBirth=birth date|1891|11|5|mf=y
Birthplace=Parkersburg, WV
DateOfDeath=November 2 ,1973 (age age|1891|11|5|1973|11|2)
PlaceOfDeath=Lake Worth, FL
College=West Virginia Wesleyan
Position=Head Coach
coach=yes
coachingyears=1922
1923-28
1931-33
1941-50
coachingteams=Washington and Jefferson College PresidentsVirginia Cavaliers West Virginia Mountaineers Philadelphia Eagles
Stats=yes
DatabaseFootballCoach=NEALEGRE01
DatabaseFootball=NEALEGRE01
Career Highlights=yes
Record=73-51
Championships=1949NFL Championship
1948NFL Championship
HOF=162
HOFYear=1969
CollegeHOF=20023Alfred Earle "Greasy" Neale (
November 5 1891 -November 2 1973 ) was anAmerican football coach who was inducted into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1969. He was thehead coach of thePhiladelphia Eagles from 1941-1950. Neale was born inParkersburg, West Virginia . Before he became a head coach in theNational Football League , Neale starred as an end onJim Thorpe 's pre-World War I Canton Bulldogs . A successful college coach, he also led hisWashington and Jefferson College squad to the 1922 Rose Bowl.Although it took Neale a while to pull together the needed talent to build a winning team, once he had the right ingredients, they stayed among the league's best for nearly a decade.
In three years Greasy had the Eagles in second place and, three years later, he had them winning their first divisional crown. His offense was led by the passing of quarterback Tommy Thompson, the pass catching of future Hall of Fame end
Pete Pihos , and the running of another Hall of Famer,Steve Van Buren .Defensively, Neale developed the Eagle Defense, which was a mainstay around the league for years to come. The defensive set eventually spawned another National Football League favorite, the 4-3 defense, which is still featured by teams today.
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 were the only team to win back-to-back titles by shutting out their opponents. They beat the Chicago Cardinals 7-0 and the Los Angeles Rams 14-0.
Neale was also an outfielder in
Major League Baseball from 1916-1924. He spent all but 22 games of his career with theCincinnati Reds . He had a career batting average of .259 and finished in the top 10 in stolen bases in theNational League 4 times. He was the Reds leading hitter during the infamous 1919Black Sox World Series.External links
* [http://profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?player_id=162 Pro Football Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/n/nealegr01.shtml Greasy Neale stats at Baseball-Reference.com]
* [http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/coaching/alltime_coach_year_by_year.php?coachid=1727 College Coaching Stats]
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