Neal Storter

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.[1] Storter rebuked the story himself, though.[2] Storter was picked as the center for an All-Time Florida Gators football team in 1927.[3]

Neal Storter
Florida Gators
PositionCenter
ClassGraduate
Personal information
Born:(1890-10-03)October 3, 1890
Everglades City, Florida
Died:November 1, 1979(1979-11-01) (aged 89)
Brownsville, Texas
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight170 lb (77 kg)
Career history
CollegeFlorida (1907–1911)
Career highlights and awards
  • All-Time Florida Gators football team (1927)

Background
Aerial view of Everglades City, looking from westerly direction and showing Port DuPont and the Barron River

Neal was born on October 3, 1890, in Everglade to George W. Storter, Jr. and Nancy Waterson.[4]

University of Florida

Storter was a member of UF's Alpha Eta chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha.[5]

Bo Gator Club

He was the "Chief Bo Gator" of the quasi-mythical "Bo Gator Club," started in 1907 at UF.[6][7] 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.[8] The club seemed to involve telling tales about such events.[8]

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.[3] The 1911 team tied the South Carolina Gamecocks, defeated The Citadel Bulldogs, Clemson[9] and the College of Charleston, declared themselves to be the "champions of South Carolina,"[10] 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.[11] 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.[11][12]

Steamships

He was once manager of Lykes Brothers Steamship Company of Galveston, Texas,[3][9][13] and was connected with the company for years as captain or port superintendent.[14][15] Storter died on November 1, 1979, in Brownsville of congestive heart failure due to longstanding heart disease.[16]

References
  1. "Neal Storter".
  2. "Florida Gators History". Archived from the original on January 2, 2006. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
  3. "Writer Picks All-Time Gator Eleven, Going Back 10 Years To Name Taylor And Storter". The Evening Independent. October 14, 1927. p. 5A.
  4. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; NARA Series: Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 – March 31, 1925; Roll #: 1816; Volume #: Roll 1816 - Certificates: 112350-112725, Jan 19, 1922 – Jan 20, 1922.
  5. "Pi Kappa Alpha Orange and Blue Awards Banquet". Eventbrite. Retrieved March 23, 2023.
  6. "UF Facts and History". Archived from the original on November 6, 2014.
  7. "100 Moments in Gators History". December 12, 2007.
  8. Carl Van Ness (2006). "The Cannon Incident of 1909". Florida: News for Alumni and Friends of the University of Florida: 7.
  9. "Alumni News". The Florida Alligator. November 12, 1922. p. 2.
  10. MIKE McCALL, Alligator Staff Writer (September 4, 2009). "Worth Repeating: Gators hope to reprise title run". The Independent Florida Alligator.
  11. Pat Dooley (September 2013). "33. How the Gators Got Their Name". 100 Things Florida Fans Should Know & do Before They die: 33. ISBN 9781623682934.
  12. Olivia Ormos (February 1, 2006). "Good Ol' Boys".
  13. "Lykes Club Elects Capt. Neal Storter". The Galveston Daily News. May 15, 1949. p. 7. Retrieved January 28, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  14. "Sterling's Marine Catalog". 1922.
  15. "Propeller Club To Hear Head of Galveston Unit". The Brownsville Herald. January 20, 1949. p. 12. Retrieved January 28, 2016 – via Newspapers.com. open access
  16. Texas, Death Certificates, 1903–1982 [database on-line]
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