Neal Anderson
{{Short description|American football player (born 1964)}}
{{similar names|Neil Anderson (disambiguation){{!}}Neil Anderson}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name = Neal Anderson
| number = 35
| position = Running back
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1964|8|14|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Graceville, Florida, U.S.
| height_ft = 5
| height_in = 11
| weight_lb = 210
| high_school = Graceville {{nowrap|(Graceville, Florida)}}
| college = Florida
| draftyear = 1986
| draftround = 1
| draftpick = 27
| pastteams =
- Chicago Bears ({{NFL Year|1986|1993}})
| highlights =
- Second-team All-Pro (1990)
- 4× Pro Bowl (1988–1991)
- 100 greatest Bears of All-Time
- 2× Second-team All-SEC (1983, 1984)
- University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame
| statlabel1 = Rushing yards
| statvalue1 = 6,166
| statlabel2 = Rushing average
| statvalue2 = 4.1
| statlabel3 = Receptions
| statvalue3 = 302
| statlabel4 = Receiving yards
| statvalue4 = 2,763
| statlabel5 = Total touchdowns
| statvalue5 = 71
| pfr = AndeNe00
}}
Charles Neal Anderson (born August 14, 1964) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for eight seasons with the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) during the 1980s and 1990s. Anderson played college football for the Florida Gators. He was a first-round pick in the 1986 NFL draft. He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection with the Bears.
Early life
Anderson was born in Graceville, Florida in 1964.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players, [https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/AndeNe00.htm Neal Anderson]. Retrieved July 2, 2010. He attended Graceville High School,databaseFootball.com, Players, {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100818135513/http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=ANDERNEA01 Neal Anderson]}}. Retrieved June 1, 2010. and played for the Graceville Tigers high school football team.
College career
Anderson accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for Charley Pell and Galen Hall's Florida Gators football teams from 1982 to 1985,[http://web.gatorzone.com/football/media/2012/media_guide.pdf 2012 Florida Football Media Guide] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130527130648/http://web.gatorzone.com/football/media/2012/media_guide.pdf |date=May 27, 2013 }}, University Athletic Association, Gainesville, Florida, pp. 76, 87, 90, 94, 95, 97, 98, 101, 104, 116, 121, 141–142, 146–148, 151, 152, 154, 156, 176 (2012). Retrieved September 14, 2012. and shared the Gators' backfield with fullback John L. Williams for four years. Memorably, Anderson ran for 197 yards versus the Kentucky Wildcats as a freshman in 1982, a seventy-six-yard touchdown against the LSU Tigers in 1983, and 178 yards and an eighty-yard touchdown against the Tennessee Volunteers in 1984. He was a team captain in 1985, a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection in 1985, an Associated Press honorable mention All-American in 1984 and 1985, and the recipient of the Gators' Fergie Ferguson Award in 1985. In his four years as a Gator, Anderson had fourteen games with 100 yards or more rushing, 639 carries for 3,234 yards rushing and thirty touchdowns, forty-nine receptions for 525 yards receiving and two touchdowns, and ninety-seven yards passing. In terms of career rushing yardage, he remains the Gators' third all-time running back behind Errict Rhett and Emmitt Smith.
Behind the rushing of Anderson, the rushing and receiving of John L. Williams, the receiving of wide receiver Ricky Nattiel and the passing of quarterback Kerwin Bell, the Gators finished with identical best-in-the-SEC records of 9–1–1 in 1984 and 1985.College Football Data Warehouse, [http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/active/f/florida/yearly_results.php?year=1980 Florida Yearly Results 1980–1984] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118020442/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/active/f/florida/yearly_results.php?year=1980 |date=November 18, 2015 }} and [http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/active/f/florida/yearly_results.php?year=1985 Florida Yearly Results 1985–1989] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118001027/http://cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/active/f/florida/yearly_results.php?year=1985 |date=November 18, 2015 }}. Retrieved July 18, 2010. Anderson graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in public relations in 1986, and was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1995.F Club, Hall of Fame, [http://www.gatorfclub.org/hall-of-fame/greats Gator Greats]. Retrieved December 13, 2014.Antonya English, "[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tr5YAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c-wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3335,1801495&dq=university-of-florida+hall-of-fame&hl=en Anderson: Big honor, young age]," The Gainesville Sun, Sports Weekend section, p. 4 (April 8, 1995). Retrieved July 23, 2011. The sportswriters of The Gainesville Sun selected him as No. 13 among the top 100 all-time greatest Gators from the first 100 years of Florida football in 2006.Robbie Andreu & Pat Dooley, "[http://www.gainesville.com/article/20060821/GATORS70/60821003 No. 13 Neal Anderson]," The Gainesville Sun (August 21, 2006). Retrieved March 31, 2013.
Professional career
The Chicago Bears selected Anderson in the first round (27th pick overall) of the 1986 NFL draft.{{Cite web |title=1986 NFL Draft Listing |url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/1986/draft.htm |access-date=2023-10-02 |website=Pro-Football-Reference.com |language=en}} He played for the Bears for eight seasons from {{NFL Year|1986}} to {{NFL Year|1993}}.National Football League, Historical Players, [http://www.nfl.com/players/nealanderson/profile?id=AND131677 Neal Anderson]. Retrieved May 13, 2011. He joined the franchise as a rookie immediately following the Bears' {{NFL Year|1985}} championship season. The Bears picked Anderson to back up, and eventually succeed, Walter Payton, who became the Bears and NFL's all-time rushing leader during his lengthy career. After Payton's retirement in {{NFL Year|1987}}, Anderson became the team's starting running back.
Anderson's best years came during the late 1980s, where he rushed for over 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons. In all three seasons, Anderson scored over ten touchdowns and averaged over four yards per carry. Ultimately, his best season came in {{NFL Year|1989}}, when he rushed for 1,275 yards, received 434 yards, and scored 15 touchdowns. He was invited to the Pro Bowl in {{NFL Year|1988}}, 1989, {{NFL Year|1990}} and {{NFL Year|1991}}.
Over his eight-year career, Anderson appeared in 116 regular season games, and started 91 of them; he amassed 6,166 yards and scored 51 touchdowns rushing, and 2,763 yards and 20 touchdowns receiving—a career total of 71 touchdowns. Anderson's career was shortened by injuries and the Bears' fall-out during the early 1990s. He is currently the Bears' third all-time franchise rusher, behind Payton and Matt Forté.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Chicago Bears, [https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/chi/career-rushing.htm Chicago Bears Rushing Career Register]. Retrieved May 13, 2011.Jeremy Stoltz, "[http://chi.scout.com/2/1350346.html Forte No. 2 rusher in Bears annals] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202225156/http://chi.scout.com/2/1350346.html |date=2013-12-02 }}," Scout.com (November 24, 2013). Retrieved July 8, 2014.
Anderson says his favorite memory from his NFL career was December 2, 1990, when he scored a 50-yard game-winning touchdown on a pass from Jim Harbaugh against the Detroit Lions, which eliminated them from the playoffs and secured an appearance by the Bears. "I caught a touchdown pass against Detroit at the end of the game. And that put us in the playoffs. One of the few things I remember was being under the pile and everybody jumping on top of me. All of the guys in the locker room called me 'The Cuz.' And I could just hear people saying: 'The Cuz! The Cuz!'"{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagobears.com/photos/top-10-bears-moments-vs-lions|title = Top 10: Bears moments vs. Lions}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/ct-bears-where-neal-anderson-spt-1213-20141212-story.html|title = Catching up with former Bear Neal Anderson| website=Chicago Tribune }}
NFL career statistics
| class=wikitable style="text-align:center" | |||||||||
| rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Team ! rowspan="2"| GP ! colspan="5"| Rushing ! colspan="5"| Receiving | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD |
| {{NFL Year|1986}}||CHI
|14||35||146||4.2||23||0||4||80||20.0||58||1 | |||||||||
| {{NFL Year|1987}}||CHI
|11||129||586||4.5||38||3||47||467||9.9||59||3 | |||||||||
| {{NFL Year|1988}}||CHI
|16||249||1,106||4.4||80||12||39||371||9.5||36||0 | |||||||||
| {{NFL Year|1989}}||CHI
|16||274||1,275||4.7||73||11||50||434||8.7||49||4 | |||||||||
| {{NFL Year|1990}}||CHI
|15||260||1,078||4.1||52||10||42||484||11.5||50||3 | |||||||||
| {{NFL Year|1991}}||CHI
|13||210||747||3.6||42||6||47||368||7.8||26||3 | |||||||||
| {{NFL Year|1992}}||CHI
|16||156||582||3.7||49||5||42||399||9.5||30||6 | |||||||||
| {{NFL Year|1993}}||CHI
|15||202||646||3.2||45||4||31||160||5.2||35||0 | |||||||||
| colspan="2"|Career ||116||1,515||6,166||4.1||80||51||302||2,763||9.1||59||20 |
Life after football
Anderson now lives with his wife and their three children in the Gainesville area, where he helped found a bank and owns a {{convert|2000|acre|ha|adj=on}} peanut farm.Pat Forde, "[https://www.espn.com/college-football/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=5755060 Pressure, pigeons and playoff]," ESPN.com (November 2, 2010). Retrieved November 3, 2010. He is active in the community. He is a big fan of professional wrestling and attended Wrestlemania XI.
In 1998, Anderson helped found, and is now on the board of directors of, Community Bank and Trust of Florida, a bank with 11 locations in and near Gainesville.
See also
{{Portal|American football|Biography|College football}}
References
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
Bibliography
- Carlson, Norm, University of Florida Football Vault: The History of the Florida Gators, Whitman Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, Georgia (2007). {{ISBN|0-7948-2298-3}}.
- Golenbock, Peter, Go Gators! An Oral History of Florida's Pursuit of Gridiron Glory, Legends Publishing, LLC, St. Petersburg, Florida (2002). {{ISBN|0-9650782-1-3}}.
- Hairston, Jack, Tales from the Gator Swamp: A Collection of the Greatest Gator Stories Ever Told, Sports Publishing, LLC, Champaign, Illinois (2002). {{ISBN|1-58261-514-4}}.
- McCarthy, Kevin M., [https://books.google.com/books?id=_Tk-IQepI6cC Fightin' Gators: A History of University of Florida Football], Arcadia Publishing, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina (2000). {{ISBN|978-0-7385-0559-6}}.
- Nash, Noel, ed., The Gainesville Sun Presents The Greatest Moments in Florida Gators Football, Sports Publishing, Inc., Champaign, Illinois (1998). {{ISBN|1-57167-196-X}}.
{{Bears1986DraftPicks}}
{{BearsFirstPick}}
{{1986 NFL Draft}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Neal}}
Category:American football running backs
Category:Chicago Bears players
Category:Florida Gators football players
Category:National Conference Pro Bowl players