Greasy Neale

Earle "Greasy" Neale
Date of birth	November 5, 1891(1891-11-05)
Place of birth	Parkersburg, WV
Date of death	November 2, 1973 (age 81)
Place of death	Lake Worth, FL
Position(s)	Head Coach
College	West Virginia Wesleyan
Honors	Philadelphia Eagles Honor Roll
Career record	73–51
Championships       won	1949 NFL Championship 1948 NFL Championship
Stats
Playing stats	DatabaseFootball
Coaching stats	DatabaseFootball
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1922 1923-28 1931-33 1941-50	Washington and Jefferson College Presidents Virginia Cavaliers West Virginia Mountaineers Philadelphia Eagles
College Football Hall of Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 1969

Alfred Earle "Greasy" Neale (November 5, 1891 - November 2, 1973) was an American football coach who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969. He was the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1941–1950. Neale was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Before he became a head coach in the National Football League, Neale starred as an end on Jim Thorpe's pre-World War I Canton Bulldogs as well as the Dayton Triangles in 1918 and Massillon Tigers in 1919. Greasy coached the semi-professional Ironton Tanks with his legendary style, flair and winning ways. A successful college coach, he also led his Washington 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 the Cincinnati Reds. He had a career batting average of .259 and finished in the top 10 in stolen bases in the National League 4 times. He was the Reds' leading hitter during the infamous 1919 Black Sox World Series.

References

External links

• Pro Football Hall of Fame
• Greasy Neale stats at Baseball-Reference.com
• College Coaching Stats
• [1] New York Times Obit at thedeadballera.com
• PFRA Research. "1918: A War Year". Coffin Corner (Professional Football Researchers Association): 1–3. http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Articles/A_War_Year.pdf. 
• Jim Campbell (1995). "John Alexander: Pro Football Pioneer". Coffin Corner (Professional Football Researchers Association) 16 (2): 1–9. http://www.profootballresearchers.org/Coffin_Corner/16-02-558.pdf.