I'm an asshole! What's your excuse?
thats a big loss. how did joe get paralyzed?
I believe he was thrown from a horse.
Friends of Joe might be interested in viewing photos at http://www.dotphoto.com/go.asp?L=dgn...ID=1619026&G=Y
"Former LA Tech Football Players, family and friends got together at Joe McNeely's ranch near Hempstead, TX to renew old friendships and start new friendships."
Wow, he was born on the exact same day as my dad.
For those of you too young to know, Joe McNeely was the heart and soul of Louisiana Tech's back-to-back national championships, and their 44-4 won-loss record in the early 1970's. Not blessed with great size (I think Joe was only 5-10), Joe became a hitting machine and an All-American LB.
As a football player, Joe McNeely was mean, Mean, MEAN! And I say that in admiration of his many football talents, not to disparage his memory.
I've stated many times on this board that what Louisiana Tech really needs today is a big dose of that swagger and meanness that Joe McNeely, Fred Dean, et al....brought to gameday at Joe Aillet Stadium in the early 1970's. Opposing teams FEARED these guys. Fact is, if we had more players with attitudes like Joe's and Fred's, there wouldn't be a 7-game losing streak to a bunch of pretty boys from Boise State. The likes of Joe and Fred would eat'em alive.
Godspeed, Joe.
HD
For those of you too young to know, Joe McNeely was the heart and soul of Louisiana Tech's back-to-back national championships, and their 44-4 won-loss record in the early 1970's. Not blessed with great size (I think Joe was only 5-10), Joe became a hitting machine and an All-American LB.
As a football player, Joe McNeely was mean, Mean, MEAN! And I say that in admiration of his many football talents, not to disparage his memory.
I've stated many times on this board that what Louisiana Tech really needs today is a big dose of that swagger and meanness that Joe McNeely, Fred Dean, et al....brought to gameday at Joe Aillet Stadium in the early 1970's. Opposing teams FEARED these guys. Fact is, if we had more players with attitudes like Joe's and Fred's, there wouldn't be a 7-game losing streak to a bunch of pretty boys from Boise State. The likes of Joe and Fred would eat'em alive.
Godspeed, Joe.
You get a strong amen from me on on your compete post .
As an old fart, I can now see the blessing I that fell into my lap. I moved to Baton Rouge b/4 by senior year in high shcool from southern California, picked Tech, sight unseen and spent four great years at Tech...1971-1975.
Good speed Joe.
Besides being a fireplug, Joe was quick as a cat. He would jump into a center guard gap when it was too late to audible and beat the ball carrier to the handoff. He always seemed to have his shirtail out and really could hit. Between him and Dean, the opposing O's always went home sore.
I remember a story about Joe and Boise State. During the festivities which led up to the 1973 Pioneer Bowl (national championship semi-finals in Wichita Falls) the two teams were fed, sitting across from each other on long tables. Joe was sitting across from the biggest player Boise State had. Naturally, Joe started a fight with the guy during the meal.
Tech won that game, 38-34, on a touchdown pass from Denny Duron to Roger Carr with 12 seconds remaining in the game. Tech won the national championship the next week, shutting out Western Kentucky 34-0. As a member of the BOP, I was privileged to be able to attend both of those games.
Despite being small in size, McNeely was named to the All-America team in 1973.
Good old Memorial Gym
Read a repeat of Scott Beder's excellent July, 2000, article about Joe's accident and his life in today's (4-21) News-Star, "NEWS-STAR THROWBACKS: McNeely was Tech's toughest son of a gun" at http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/2...TES02/90420018
An interesting sideline to the playoffs leading to the national championship game--while we were just eaking out a victory over Boise State in Wichita Falls, Western Kentucky, our opponent on the final game, was doing the same in Baton Rouge over GRAMBLING.
Had Grambling beaten Western Kentucky, we would have played the Tigers in the National Championship Game in Sacramento, CA. The score would have been similar or worse as the Western Kentucky score.