HBCU GO Celebrates 'Charlie Neal Day' Before College Football Season Kicks Off

HOUSTON — Charlie Neal knew the arithmetic.

"I'm not going to be around forever," he told HBCU Legends in a 2023 interview. "Somebody's gonna have to take my place one of these days. I'm still enjoying it as long as I have my health and sound mind and body."

On Saturday, HBCU GO aired a full day of programming called "Charlie Neal Day," featuring highlights from his remarkable career, which began in a Philadelphia radio booth and included calling the first football game on ESPNU.

HBCU GO also announced that Neal will be honored with a moment of silence at the first football game of the season across HBCU conferences.

Neal died May 13 at 80.

The timing was intentional. Aug. 22 is the final Saturday before Black college football returns. The 2026 Cricket MEAC/SWAC Challenge Kickoff will feature Alabama A&M against Howard on Aug. 29 at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

HBCU GO begins its 2026 football schedule with North Carolina Central visiting Texas Southern at 7 p.m. ET from W.W. Thorne Stadium in Houston. Neal was the network's lead play-by-play voice.

Unfortunately, this upcoming HBCU football season will begin for a second straight year without him behind the microphone.

Charlie Neal | Credit: HBCU Legends, Kyle T. Mosley

Before BET, "You May Have Seen One Game a Year"

Neal was born in Philadelphia on Oct. 28, 1945. He started as a radio disc jockey there before moving to television as a sports anchor at WRC-TV, the NBC station in Washington, D.C., in 1971. The Philadelphia Tribune reported that he worked at affiliates in the Detroit, New York, Philadelphia and Washington markets before taking the job that would define much of his career.

Neal explained that job to HBCU Legends, providing a picture of what television exposure looked like for Black college sports before BET.

"When Bob Johnson came along in 1980 and created Black Entertainment Television, that was the platform in which I've been able to do the things that I've done," Neal said. "If you remember, prior to BET coming along, you may have seen one game a year, maybe Grambling, and somebody on ABC or something like that. And that was about all the exposure that HBCUs were getting at that particular time."

At first, the schools were not necessarily receptive. Neal said Johnson's offer of exposure instead of rights fees, since BET couldn't pay for broadcast rights, was not well received by some institutions.

"Some of the schools downright turned BET down and said, look, that's okay, we don't want to be bothered," Neal said. "Ten years later, they were knocking on the door, tearing the door down, trying to get on television."

Neal spent 24 years at BET and also served as the network's executive producer for sports, a role that is often overlooked as part of his legacy.

He didn't just call the games. He helped decide which games America would see.

For 23 of those years, Neal's broadcast partner was Lem Barney, the Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback from Jackson State. Together, they covered Eddie Robinson breaking Bear Bryant's career wins record at Grambling and brought stars such as Jerry Rice, Steve McNair and Doug Williams to national television, even as others questioned whether Black college football belonged on the air.

Neal later worked for CBS Sports, Turner Sports and ESPN. In 2005, he called the first football game ever broadcast on ESPNU: Benedict against Morehouse in Atlanta.

"John David Washington, Denzel's son, was playing for Morehouse on that team," Neal noted. He was a walking encyclopedia of college sports.

HBCU GO Celebrates 'Charlie Neal Day' | HBCU GO

"That's Where the Award Belongs"

The honors accumulated during the latter half of Neal's career.

Neal entered the MEAC Hall of Fame in 2009, the CIAA Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2023, the National Football Foundation gave him the Chris Schenkel Award for excellence in college football broadcasting. The NFF noted that Neal was the first recipient from the HBCU ranks.

The SWAC inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 2024. The CIAA presented him with its Jimmy Jenkins Legacy Award this year.

When Neal learned he was nominated for a national broadcasting award alongside other top play-by-play announcers, he put the recognition into perspective.

"When you look at the names on the list, just to be in that group is an honor itself," he told HBCU Legends. "I don't feel I'm gonna win it, which is okay. But just to be named, I feel like I'm in tall cotton, as they say."

When it came to the Schenkel Award, Neal redirected the credit toward the people whose stories he spent his career telling.

"I'm very humbled to receive it, but I also give credit to the players that I was able to tell the stories about, the coaches that allowed me to tell those stories, and the athletic administrators who let us onto their campuses," Neal said. "That's where the award belongs. I was just given the stage to go ahead and tell the stories, but they're the ones that gave me the opportunity to do that."

"Charlie Neal was one of the true pioneers and great voices in our game," NFF Chairman Archie Manning said in the foundation's statement after Neal's death. "He brought dignity, passion, and unmatched professionalism to every broadcast, and he helped shine a long-overdue national spotlight on HBCU football and its incredible tradition."

The John Madden of Black College Sports

Curtis Symonds, president of HBCU GO and a former BET colleague, has been clear about how he describes Neal's legacy.

"Charlie was underrated for his impact on sports," Symonds told The Shadow League after Neal's death. "I consider him the 'John Madden' of Black College Sports."

He explained the comparison further in an interview with HBCU Legends.

"When you look at a guy who's been involved with Black college football 50 years, Charlie is that man," Symonds said. "He's a historian. He's a proven product because he's lived it. He could go back in history and give you anything that no one else could give you. No other announcer could give it to you."

"And what always made our telecasts, whether on BET or HBCU GO, feel so real was that he told the true story," Symonds said. "He wasn't fluffing the story."

Symonds pointed to the Black College Football Hall of Fame's Friday night honoree ceremony, which Neal led for years, as an example of that command. Neal did it without notes.

"I'd say to him after the event, every time, how do you do this?" Symonds said. "He has it locked in his head. He was a perfectionist on detail."

At its 17th annual enshrinement in Atlanta this June, the Black College Football Hall of Fame ended with a tribute to Neal produced by Symonds. The Class of 2026, which included Jimmy Smith, Eddie Robinson Jr., Nick Collins, Tyrone Poole, Rudy Hubbard and Steve Wyche, also featured a broadcaster, quietly reflecting the path Neal helped create.

Sweep the Floors

In his final working years, Neal increasingly focused on finding and mentoring the broadcasters who could follow him. He mentioned Lawrencia Moten and James Hadnot as broadcasters he discovered and helped develop.

"Take advantage of every opportunity that's offered to you, no matter what it is," Neal said. "If they ask you to sweep the floors at TV stations, take the broom and sweep the floors. Because then you're inside. And once you're inside, people know who you are. If you're outside, still knocking on the door, they may not open it and let you in."

Neal majored in psychology and enjoyed joking about it. When asked why he chose the field, Neal would say, "Because nobody else could spell it."

He once told a Benedict College defensive end at an awards weekend that his psychology degree had worked: He had convinced people he could broadcast. More importantly, his audiences were mesmerized by his delivery and brilliance.

Neal visited over 50 campuses. He called more Black college football and basketball games than any other announcer, by The Shadow League's accounting.

Next Saturday, as stadiums fill, bands set up, and trucks power on, there will be a moment of complete silence.

He would have disliked the silence. His whole life was about breaking it.

At HBCU GO, Charlie Neal was more than a broadcasting pioneer. He was the standard.

Kyle T. Mosley covers HBCU athletics for HBCU Legends. He interviewed Charlie Neal on multiple occasions and reported his death for HBCU Legends on May 14, 2026. Quotes attributed to HBCU Legends are drawn from those interviews and from a conversation with HBCU GO president Curtis Symonds.

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