From rec basketball through his high school, college and professional days, Gary Neal showed the way when it came to scoring points.
“I started playing when I was seven-years-old,” Gary said. “My mother played, my two older brothers played. When I wasn’t playing I was watching them. It’s what we did as a family.”
The outside world began to take notice when Gary led Aberdeen High School in scoring (21.0) as a sophomore. He hit the game winner that gave the 21-4 Eagles a 50-48 win over Gwynn Park for a state championship. After his junior year he transferred to nearby Calvert Hall, pacing the Cardinals with a 22.9 clip.
He spent his first two college years at La Salle, leading the Explorers both seasons with averages of 18.6 and 17.9. He was named Atlantic 10’s Rookie of the Year in 2002-03. In 2005-06 he completed his transfer to Towson after leaving La Salle where he scored 1,041 points.
In less than two seasons at Towson he netted 1,254 points to close out his college career with a total of 2,295 points. He is one of only three players in college basketball history to score 1,000 points at two different Division I schools. He was among the top five scorers in the nation in each his junior and senior years. His two-year average of 25.6 points per game is second to Towson Hall of Famer Kurk Lee’s 25.7 career clip.
Gary was the Tigers’ leading scorer in 48 of his 49 games. He tied and set the program single game 3-point record four times. In his senior year he was the leading returner scorer in the nation when he went on to register a single season program record 810 points for a 25.3 average. His 93 three-point baskets made and 267 field goals made that year are still Towson records.
Towson’s 2007 Male Athlete of the Year, Gary was a first team All-CAA selection in his final year in addition to being named a Mid-Major All-American and a first team pick on the NABC and USBWA All-District teams.
He went unpicked in the 2007 NBA draft so he took his game abroad to Turkey (top scorer in Turkish League), Spain (All EuroCup 2nd Team) and Italy (leading scorer in the Italian League). In 2010 he caught the eye of the San Antonio Spurs while playing in the NBA Summer League. He embarked on a six-year NBA career, initially with the Spurs and later with the Milwaukee Bucks, Charlotte Bobcats, Minnesota Timberwolves, Washington Wizards and Atlanta Hawks.
“For me it wasn’t the fact that I had simply signed a contract,” Gary said, “but that I actually played as a rotation guy on one of the best teams in all of basketball while I was with the Spurs and proved to myself that I belonged in the NBA.”
In 2011 he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team. In 2018 he was back in Spain where he led the ACB in scoring and was a first team All-Liga ACB selection. He retired as a player following that season.
