National Football Foundation

Captain of the 1970 Yale football squad, Tom Neville starred at defensive line for a Bulldogs defense that set school records for takeaways (47) and turnover margin (+29). A two-time First Team All-Ivy League selection, he was also selected First Team All-America. Neville served as vice president of Tau Beta Pi, the University’s engineering honor society. He was drafted in the 13^th round (338^th overall) of the 1971 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts. Neville graduated first in his engineering and applied science class and was selected as a Rhodes Scholar. He chose to attend the University of Oxford, where he earned a degree in economics and politics while becoming a member of the school’s top rugby squad.

Neville returned to the U.S. in 1973 to attend Stanford University, where he worked on energy policy and earned a PhD in economics and finance in 1979. For three decades, he worked in the energy sector and industrial combustion engineering, later serving as chief technology officer and co-owner of North America Manufacturing, Co.

After being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2002, Neville sold his firm and dedicated himself to working full-time to further the ongoing revolution in prostate cancer research and care with his new startup SoarBioDynamics, Inc., which he cofounded with his wife Kelly. Neville and his colleagues estimate their new “smart screening” technique could reduce prostate cancer deaths by 40 percent, biopsies by 65 percent and treatment by 50 percent while saving $5 billion per year in medical costs.