Earle " Greasy " Neale Alfred Earle " Greasy " Neale ( November 5 , 1891 – November 2 , 1973 ) was an American football and baseball player and coach . He played Major League Baseball as an outfielder with the Cincinnati Reds between 1916 and 1924 and briefly with the Philadelphia Phillies for part of the 1921 season . Neale was the starting right fielder for the 1919 Cincinnati Reds . He batted . 357 in the 1919 World Series and led the Reds with ten hits in their eight - game series win over the scandalous White Sox . Neale also played professional football in the Ohio League with the Canton Bulldogs in 1917 , the Dayton Triangles in 1918 , and the Massillon Tigers in 1919 . At Canton , he played alongside the great Jim Thorpe . Neale also coached the Dayton Triangles in 1918 . Neale began his coaching career while still a professional player . He served as the head football coach at Muskingum College ( 1915 ) , West Virginia Wesleyan College ( 1916 – 1917 ) , Marietta College ( 1919 – 1920 ) , Washington & Jefferson College ( 1921 – 1922 ) , the University of Virginia ( 1923 – 1928 ) , and West Virginia University ( 1931 – 1933 ) , compiling a career college football record of 82 – 54 – 11 . At Washington & Jefferson , he led his 1921 squad to the Rose Bowl , where the Presidents played the California Golden Bears to a scoreless tie . At Virginia , Neale was also the head baseball coach from 1923 to 1929 , tallying a mark of 80 – 73 – 2 . He coached basketball for two seasons at Marietta ( 1919 – 1921 ) as well , amassing a record of 26 – 11 . After a seven - year stint as an assistant football coach at Yale University ( 1934 – 1940 ) , Neale moved to the National Football League , serving as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles from 1941 to 1950 . He led the Eagles to consecutive NFL Championships in 1948 and 1949 , and tallied a mark of 66 – 44 – 5 including playoff games in his ten seasons with the club . Neale was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1967 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1969 . Both inductions recognized his coaching career . Early life and playing career . Neale was born in Parkersburg , West Virginia . Although writers eventually assumed that Neale got his nickname , " Greasy " , from his elusiveness on the football field , it actually arose during his youth , from a name - calling joust with a friend . Before he became a head coach in the National Football League , Neale spent all but 22 games of his baseball career with the Cincinnati Reds . He had a career batting average of . 259 and finished in the top ten in stolen bases in the National League four times . He was the Reds ' leading hitter during the infamous 1919 Black Sox World Series and had the record for most steals at home plate . When football season came around , often he would leave baseball and fulfill his football duties ( albeit playing about 90 % of a baseball season most years , with the exception of 1919 when he played the entire season , including the 1919 World Series ) . He starred as an end on Jim Thorpe ' s pre - World War I Canton Bulldogs as well as the Dayton Triangles in 1918 and Massillon Tigers in 1919 . Coaching career . A successful college coach , Neale also led his Washington and Jefferson squad to the 1922 Rose Bowl . Neale later coached the independent professional Ironton Tanks with his legendary style , flair and winning ways . He and Tanks quarterback Glenn Presnell claimed victories against the NFL ' s second place New York Giants and third place Chicago Bears in 1930 . After the Ironton Tanks folded in 1931 , he moved to Philadelphia and coached the Eagles . Although it took Neale a while to pull together the needed talent to build a winning team , once he had the right ingredients , they stayed among the league ' s best for nearly a decade . In three years Neale had the Eagles in second place and , three years later , he had them winning their first divisional crown . His offense was led by the passing of quarterback Tommy Thompson , the pass catching of future Hall of Fame end Pete Pihos , and the running of another Hall of Famer , Steve Van Buren . From 1944 through 1949 , Neale ' s Eagles finished second three times and in first place three times . The Eagles won the NFL Championship in 1948 and again in 1949 , and were the only team to win back - to - back titles by shutting out their opponents . They beat the Chicago Cardinals 7 – 0 and the Los Angeles Rams 14 – 0 .