Fred Neal
Curly Neal signing a ball at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born |
May 19, 1942 Greensboro, North Carolina |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Listed weight | 162 lb (73 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Dudley (Greensboro, North Carolina) |
| College | Johnson C. Smith |
| Playing career | 1963–1985 |
| Position | Point guard |
| Number | 22 |
| Career history | |
| 1963–1985 | Harlem Globetrotters |
Fred "Curly" Neal (born May 19, 1942) is an American former basketball player best known for his career with the Harlem Globetrotters, instantly recognizable with his shaved head. Following in the footsteps of Marques Haynes, Neal became the Trotters' featured ballhandler, a key role in the team's exhibition act.
Born in Greensboro, North Carolina, Neal attended Greensboro-Dudley High School. He went to Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina. At Smith, he averaged 23.1 points a game and was named All-CIAA guard.
Neal played for 22 seasons (1963–85) with the Globetrotters, appearing in more than 6,000 games in 97 countries. His shaved head earned him his nickname, a reference to the Three Stooges' Curly Howard, and made him one of the most recognizable Globetrotters. In the 1970s, an animated version of Neal starred with various other Globetrotters in the Hanna-Barbera animated cartoon Harlem Globetrotters as well as its spinoff, The Super Globetrotters. The animated Globetrotters also made three appearances in The New Scooby-Doo Movies. Neal himself appeared with Meadowlark Lemon, Marques Haynes, and his other fellow Globetrotters in a live-action Saturday morning TV show, The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine, in 1974–75, which also featured Rodney Allen Rippy and Avery Schreiber.
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