NSA Hall of Fame: Dave Neale (1995)

CATEGORY: Coach

YEAR INDUCTED: 1995

Dave Neale’s Steele teams became synonymous for winning Men’s Major World Championships throughout the 80’s and 90’s.  The legendary Steele’s barnstorming tours of the late 80’s and early 90’s helped put “Big Time” softball on the map.  The players that Dave coached over the years are like a Who’s Who of Softball.  Mike Macenko, Rick Weiterman, Charles Wright, Bruce Meade, Dan Schuck, Todd Joerling, Craig Elliot, Mighty Joe Young, Dirk Androff, Doug Roberson, Doug Kissane, Billy Blake and the list goes on and on.

Dave Neale was the first Major Coach to commit to the upstart NSA Men’s Major World Series in 1986.  Dave coached his team to the first ever Men’s Major World Series Championship that year at Herman Brown Park in Houston, Texas.  His Men of Steele later captured the crown again in 1988, 1989 and for his last time in 1990.  In 1996 when the NSA implemented its Men’s Major NIT’s, again Dave Neale and his Steele’s Hit Men team were the first team to commit to the program.

While the owner of the Steele’s Mfg Company, Dave’s Steele Eagle Ball was the first ball to carry an NSA logo.  His Steele’s company was among the first companies to give monetary support such as sponsorship and advertising money to the fledgling National Softball Association in the early 80’s.

In November of 1995, Dave Neale became the first coach inducted into the NSA Hall of Fame.