A 1963 Crater graduate, Neil participated in football for two years, basketball and baseball for four years, and naturally was a member of the Crater Lettermen’s Club.  Upon graduation from Crater, Neil attended Southern Oregon College where he played basketball for two years and varsity baseball for four years from 1963 to 1967.  Neil led the team in hitting all four years, and in home runs as a freshman, junior and senior.  As a senior, he led the Nation in stolen bases with 25.  He earned Oregon Collegiate Conference honors all four years and NAIA District II honors as a sophomore and senior.  Also, as a senior, he earned NAIA Honorable Mention All-American honors. 

Following his junior season, the New York Mets drafted him, but he decided to return to school.  The Boston Red Sox drafted him after his senior season.  Neil played in the Red Sox organization until injuries ended his career.  In 2009 Neil was inducted into the Southern Oregon University Athletic Hall of Fame.

In addition to earning a degree from Southern Oregon College, Neil also attended Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management (Glendale, AZ), the University of Washington and Portland State University. 

After leaving the Boston Red Sox organization, Neil was a business teacher at Lake Owego High School from 1972 to 1974.  He left teaching to begin working for McGraw-Hill Publishing and worked there until 2002. He then worked for Scott Foresman Publishing from 2002 until he retired in 2005. In addition, he served in the United States Army Reserves from 1967-73.

Neil has always been involved in the community he was living in. For example, in Sunriver, Oregon he volunteered for the Sunriver Nature Center and Observatory and the 2nd Turn Store and in High Valley Ranch, Arizona, he was on the HOA Board of Directors and in Prescott, Arizona he is a police citizen volunteer.