Bill Neely (American football)

Bill Neely
Vanderbilt Commodores
PositionEnd/Halfback
ClassGraduate
Personal information
Born:(1887-06-22)June 22, 1887
Smyrna, Tennessee
Died:May 16, 1965(1965-05-16) (aged 77)
Smyrna, Tennessee
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight156 lb (71 kg)
Career history
CollegeVanderbilt (1908–1910)
Career highlights and awards

William Daniel Neely Jr. (June 22, 1887 – May 16, 1965) was a college football player.

Early years

William, Jr. was born on June 22, 1887, in Smyrna, Tennessee, to William Daniel Neely, Sr. and Mary Elizabeth Gooch.[1] His father William died of sunstroke in 1900. His brother Jess Neely was a College Football Hall of Fame coach and captain of the undefeated 1922 Vanderbilt Commodores football team.

Vanderbilt University

He was a prominent end and halfback for Dan McGugin's Vanderbilt Commodores football teams. Bill also lettered for the Vanderbilt basketball team.[2]

Football

1910

He was captain of the undefeated and SIAA champion 1910 team, led as well by the likes of W. E. Metzger and Ray Morrison. That team managed a scoreless tie with defending national champion Yale. Neely recalled the event: "The score tells the story a good deal better than I can. All I want to say is that I never saw a football team fight any harder at every point than Vanderbilt fought today – line, ends, and backfield. We went in to give Yale the best we had and I think we about did it."[3] Neely was selected for the College Football All-Southern team.[4][5]

Later years

He was a schoolteacher, a member of the board of directors of the Rutherford County Creamery and manager of the Production Credit Association of Springfield.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ Virginia Gooch Watson (1979). "Goochland". Rutherford County Historical Society (12): 51.
  2. ^ "All-Time Lettermen's List".
  3. ^ Bill Traughber (2011). Vanderbilt Football:Tales of Commodore Gridiron History. p. 44. ISBN 9781625842312.
  4. ^ Spalding's Football Guide. Shawnee Mission, Kansas, NCAA Publishing Service. 1911. pp. 35, 65.
  5. ^ Closed access icon "All S. I. A. A. Team". Times-Picayune. December 8, 1910.
  6. ^ Obituaries and Death Notices (of people born before 1900), Compiled by Susan G. Daniel, Published in 2010 by the Rutherford County Historical Society