By Woodrow Carroll
His rightful name was Alfred Earle Neale. However, to those who knew him, he was called Greasy. He proved to be rough on Chicago’s sports teams!
Born in West Virginia in 1891, Neale acquired his sobriquet at an early age after a name-calling session with other youngsters.
Gifted athletically and competitive, Neale played baseball and football at a high-skill level. As such, Neale drifted between baseball and football as the seasons moved along.
Neale found himself on the 1919 Cincinnati Reds baseball team. The Reds were good enough to win the National League pennant that season and ended up facing the Chicago White Sox in the World Series. Despite the fact that the Reds won the World Series, five games to three when the Series was best-of-nine, it was the White Sox who garnered most of the attention, for the wrong reasons! The 1919 White Sox were the Black Sox of legendary infamy.
The 1919 World Series has become shrouded in mystery and nonsense, helped along by Hollywood. Still, there is no denying Neale’s contribution to the Reds’ Series success. Neale was 10-for-28 (.357) at the plate for the victorious Reds.
By 1921 Neale was the head football coach at Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pa. in southwestern Pennsylvania.
In 1921 Washington and Jefferson College was undefeated, 9-0, in football and earned an invitation to the 1922 Rose Bowl.
Washington & Jefferson’s Rose Bowl foe was University of California. Both sides were undefeated. But, powerful Cal. was heavily favored! The Presidents proved formidable, however, and the game ended a scoreless tie. It was the only time the Rose Bowl game ended scoreless. With overtime provisions in place today, it should not happen again.
By the 1940s Neale was coaching in the National Football League as the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. After a slow start, Neale had his charges percolating.
Let’s inject an historical grace note. Neale coached the Philadelphia/Pittsburgh combine, with Walt Kiesling, in 1943. The team was called the Steagles. The two coaches could not get along. (Actually they hated each other!) Major League Baseball was not the only pro sport striving to remain viable during World War II with a degree of the unusual.
With World War II over, the NFL recovered nicely and Neale’s Eagles were primed for greatness.
In 1947, the Eagles faced the Chicago Cardinals for the NFL championship in a game played at Comiskey Park in Chicago. The Eagles came up a bit short and fell, 28-21.
Undaunted, Neale had his charges in the 1948 NFL championship game, again against the Chicago Cardinals. In the game, played at Shibe Park in Philadelphia in disagreeable weather, the Eagles emerged 7-0 victors. Thus, Neale could claim the scalp of both the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cardinals.
In 1949 the Eagles were the dominant team in the NFL with an 11-1 record. Philly’s lone setback was to the Chicago Bears. Philadelphia’s 14-0 conquest of the Los Angeles Rams capped off a championship campaign.
A new threat was on the horizon for the Eagles in 1950. The Cleveland Browns had come over from the All-American Conference after dominating the AAC for four years. The Browns had been mocked by those associated with the NFL and Cleveland was eager to face the NFL Eagles. The two teams faced off in an early-season grudge match and it was no contest when Cleveland won, 35-10.
The Eagles were 6-6 in 1950 which proved to be Neale’s 10th and final season with the franchise after which he retired from coaching. Neale, who started coaching football at the collegiate level in 1915, passed away in 1973 at age 81.