Class Graduate Positions Center Name Neal Storter | Weight 170 lb (77 kg) | |
Date of birth (1890-10-03)October 3, 1890 Place of birth Everglades City, Florida Date of death November 1, 1979(1979-11-01) (aged 89) Died Brownsville, Texas, United States College Florida Gators football (1907–1911) | ||
Place of death Brownsville, Texas | ||
Neal Summers "Bo Gator" Storter (October 3, 1890 – November 1, 1979) was an American football center for the Florida Gators of the University of Florida. He was captain of the undefeated 1911 Florida Gators football team and is one proposed originator of the Florida Gator mascot. Storter rebuked the story himself, though. Storter was picked as the center for an All-Time Florida Gators football team in 1927.
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Background
Neal was born on October 3, 1890 in Everglade to George W. Storter, Jr. and Nancy Waterson.
University of Florida
Storter was a member of UF's Alpha Eta chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha.
Bo Gator Club
He was the "Chief Bo Gator" of the quasi-mythical "Bo Gator Club," started in 1907 at UF. Storter was at the University of Florida when students from the E section of Buckman Hall each chipped in a dime to purchase gunpowder; and with crushed rocks as ammunition, hauled two loaded cannons into place to fire upon a traveling carnival set across from the campus. The club seemed to involve telling tales about such events.
College football
Storter was also a prominent member of the university's football team, captain of its 1911 team. One of the school's best ever centers, Storter was selected for a position on its All-Time team in 1927. The 1911 team tied the South Carolina Gamecocks, defeated The Citadel Bulldogs, Clemson and the College of Charleston, declared themselves to be the "champions of South Carolina," and finished their season 5–0–1—still the only undefeated football season in the Gators' history. The team was also the first to use the nickname "Gators." He is as such one reason given for the nickname. A former player Roy Corbett sent a letter to The Gainesville Sun congratulating the 1928 team and mentioned the nickname coming from Storter. Carl Van Ness's research also posits Storter as the name's origin. Storter himself denied the above and stated the nickname 'Gators' came when a Macon Telegraph reporter declared "Macon to be invaded by a bunch of alligators from Florida" before the game with Mercer in 1910.
Steamships
He was once manager of Lykes Brothers Steamship Company of Galveston, Texas, and was connected with the company for years as captain or port superintendent. Storter died on November 1, 1979 in Brownsville of congestive heart failure due to longstanding heart disease.