Neal Storter
{{Short description|American football player (1890–1979)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox college football player
|name=Neal Storter
|image=nealstorter.jpg
|image_size=175
|caption=
|class=Graduate
|birth_date={{Birth date|1890|10|3}}
|birth_place=Everglades City, Florida
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1979|11|1|mf=y|1890|10|3}}
|death_place=Brownsville, Texas
|currentposition=Center
|pastschools=Florida (1907–1911)
|height_ft=5
|height_in=11
|weight_lb=170
|school=Florida Gators
|highlights=
- All-Time Florida Gators football team (1927)
}}
Neal Summers "Bo Gator" Storter (October 3, 1890 – November 1, 1979) was an American football center for the Florida Gators of the University of Florida. He was captain of the undefeated 1911 Florida Gators football team and is one proposed originator of the Florida Gator mascot.{{cite web|url=http://www.100.ece.ufl.edu/profiles/storter.php|title=Neal Storter}} Storter rebuked the story himself, though.{{cite web|url=http://www.college-basketball-tickets.net/florida_gators/history.htm|title=Florida Gators History|access-date=November 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060102133940/http://www.college-basketball-tickets.net/florida_gators/history.htm|archive-date=January 2, 2006|url-status=dead}} Storter was picked as the center for an All-Time Florida Gators football team in 1927.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19271014&id=mc1PAAAAIBAJ&sjid=sFQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5359,6502208|title=Writer Picks All-Time Gator Eleven, Going Back 10 Years To Name Taylor And Storter|date=October 14, 1927|work=The Evening Independent|page=5A}}
Background
Neal was born on October 3, 1890, in Everglade to George W. Storter, Jr. and Nancy Waterson.National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 – March 31, 1925; Roll #: 1816; Volume #: Roll 1816 - Certificates: 112350-112725, Jan 19, 1922 – Jan 20, 1922.
University of Florida
=Bo Gator Club=
He was the "Chief Bo Gator" of the quasi-mythical "Bo Gator Club," started in 1907 at UF.{{Cite web|url =http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/parents/parentsfacts.html|title =UF Facts and History|url-status =dead|archiveurl =https://archive.today/20141106000452/http://www.registrar.ufl.edu/parents/parentsfacts.html|archivedate =November 6, 2014}}{{cite web|url=http://www.alligator.org/sports/packages/article_9c5e2c6d-9e83-5b59-b373-834771a83624.html|title=100 Moments in Gators History|date=December 12, 2007}} Storter was at the University of Florida when students from the E section of Buckman Hall each chipped in a dime to purchase gunpowder; and with crushed rocks as ammunition, hauled two loaded cannons into place to fire upon a traveling carnival set across from the campus.{{cite journal|journal=Florida: News for Alumni and Friends of the University of Florida|title=The Cannon Incident of 1909|author=Carl Van Ness|year=2006|page=7|url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00073685/00011/7j?search=%22neal+storter%22}} The club seemed to involve telling tales about such events.
=College football=
Storter was also a prominent member of the university's football team, captain of its 1911 team. One of the school's best ever centers, Storter was selected for a position on its All-Time team in 1927. The 1911 team tied the South Carolina Gamecocks, defeated The Citadel Bulldogs, Clemson{{cite news|url=http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028291/00371/2j|title=Alumni News|work=The Florida Alligator|date=November 12, 1922|page=2}} and the College of Charleston, declared themselves to be the "champions of South Carolina,"{{cite web|url=http://www.alligator.org/sports/football/article_719195e8-6e84-561e-a302-4b38f71c4edc.html|title=Worth Repeating: Gators hope to reprise title run|author=MIKE McCALL, Alligator Staff Writer|date=September 4, 2009|work=The Independent Florida Alligator}} and finished their season 5–0–1—still the only undefeated football season in the Gators' history. The team was also the first to use the nickname "Gators." He is as such one reason given for the nickname. A former player Roy Corbett sent a letter to The Gainesville Sun congratulating the 1928 team and mentioned the nickname coming from Storter.{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AaVuAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA33|title=33. How the Gators Got Their Name|author=Pat Dooley|journal=100 Things Florida Fans Should Know & do Before They die|page=33|isbn=9781623682934|date=September 2013}} Storter himself denied the above and stated the nickname 'Gators' came when a Macon Telegraph reporter declared "Macon to be invaded by a bunch of alligators from Florida" before the game with Mercer in 1910.{{cite web|url=http://www.alligator.org/app/pt2/060201hundred.php|title=Good Ol' Boys|author=Olivia Ormos|date=February 1, 2006}}
Steamships
He was once manager of Lykes Brothers Steamship Company of Galveston, Texas,{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4153753/the_galveston_daily_news/|work=The Galveston Daily News|page=7|date=May 15, 1949|title=Lykes Club Elects Capt. Neal Storter|accessdate=January 28, 2016|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} and was connected with the company for years as captain or port superintendent.{{Cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b4JBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA64 | title=Sterling's Marine Catalog| year=1922}}{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4152899/the_brownsville_herald/|date=January 20, 1949|page=12|title=Propeller Club To Hear Head of Galveston Unit|work=The Brownsville Herald|accessdate=January 28, 2016|via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} Storter died on November 1, 1979, in Brownsville of congestive heart failure due to longstanding heart disease.Texas, Death Certificates, 1903–1982 [database on-line]