National Football Foundation

Currently, the lead play-by-play announcer for HBCU-GO TV Sports, Charlie Neal started his broadcast career as a radio disc jockey in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pa. He broke into television as a sports anchor in Washington D.C. in 1971 for WRC-TV (NBC). From there he worked in Philadelphia, Detroit, and New York City. While working in Detroit, he met Bob Johnson, who was in the process of starting Black Entertainment Television (BET).
 
Starting as a play-by-play announcer in an industry that rarely tapped Black talent for the lead broadcaster role, Neal joined BET in 1980 and during the next 24 years he became the voice of sports on the network. In addition to black college athletics, BET carried talk shows and coverage of all major sporting events, from Heavyweight Championship boxing to the Superbowl. Neal's efforts would help turn BET into a showcase for athletics at historically Black college and universities, which did not receive coverage on the other platforms at the time.
 
Johnson also made Neal the executive producer for sports at BET as the only announcer who was also responsible for putting together the football schedule. When Johnson sold BET to Viacom in 2001, making him the nation's first Black billionaire, he said: "BET and myself owe a lot to Charlie Neal."
 
Neal picked Lem Barney, the cornerback at Jackson State and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, to join him in the football broadcast booth, and the two became a magic combination for fans. Neal and Barney would remain broadcast partners for 23 years, one of the longest partnerships in broadcast history, and people would come to cite Neal as the Al Michaels and Howard Cosell of Black college sports.
 
Neal and Barney covered numerous College Football Hall of Fame coaches and players, including Eddie Robinson, Marino Casem, Willie Jeffries, Billy Joe, W.C. Gorden and Doug Porter. They were in the broadcast booth when Robinson broke Bear Bryant's all-time record of 323 wins in 1985. Hall of Fame players covered by the duo included Mississippi Valley State's Jerry Rice and Willie Totten, Alcorn State's Steve McNair, and Grambling's Doug Williams who would join them in the BET broadcast booth for the 1990 season. The two were in the broadcast booth for numerous Bayou Classics, and they helped set the stage for the fabled HBCU battle of the bands that would take place each week during halftime.
 
Neal also worked for CBS Sports announcing college football, basketball, track & field, and gymnastics. Neal continued to cover sports for BET while also doubling up with assignments from Turner Sports which included the first ever Goodwill Games in Moscow. He hosted the NBA halftime shows for TNT along with play-by play assignments on basketball, gymnastics, and track & field.

When BET decided to drop sports from its programming, the timing seemed right, as ESPNU was being launched, and he immediately landed a position with the World-Wide Leader. Neal actually broadcast the first-ever football game on ESPNU in 2005, coincidentally an HBCU game between Morehouse (GA) and Benedict (SC). He has handled numerous assignments for the network, including a wide range of traditional sports.

He has been a fixture for the past decade at the MEAC Basketball Tournament, announcing both the women and men's first round, quarterfinal and semifinal contests, along with hosting the MEAC Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

For the last two seasons, Neal co-hosted MEAC Countdown to Kickoff, presented by Coca-Cola, on the MEAC Digital Network. He serves as the lead play-by-play announcer for HBCU-GO TV Sports, a free-streaming service launched in 2012 and bought by the Allen Media Group in 2021. Last year, HBCU-GO carried 12 football with 23 football games on tap this season along with expanding slate of basketball games as well.

Neal has been recognized for his contribution to black college athletics by being inducted into the MEAC, CIAA and Black College Football halls of fame. He currently serves as chairman of the selection committee for the Black College Football Hall of Fame.
 
Neal becomes the first NFF Chris Schenkel Award recipient from the HBCU ranks.