FOX SPORTS Net shines a light on an often-overlooked slice of pro football tonight, and it's a story with a West Virginia twist.

The Emmy-nominated "Amazing Sports Stories" airs at 8 p.m. today on FSN Pittsburgh with a fresh look at the "Steagles" from 1943 - an NFL team made up from players from the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles.

With World War II raging in Europe and the Pacific, 600 NFL players went off to fight. The NFL nearly ceased operations before the 1943 season, but when the decision was made to continue, the league opted to tighten its belt. The Cleveland Rams folded and the Steelers and the Eagles, bitter rivals but cellar dwellers at the time, merged.

On paper, the Steagles were a ragtag band of military draft rejects: aging stars and even active servicemen who managed to get leave for the games. 

The Steagles' starting center was deaf in one ear. One starting defensive end was blind in one eye and nearly legally blind in the other. The Steagles began the season with tailback Johnny Butler, who made his first start one day after being ruled 4-F by his draft board for poor eyesight and bad knees.   

Because of the war effort, the Steagles players are believed to be the only members of an American professional sports franchise who were not only encouraged but required to hold full-time jobs, in addition to playing pro football.

When the Steelers and Eagles merged, both head coaches refused to accept a demotion, so they shared the job - and hated each other while doing it.

Neale and 'Steagles'

When the topic of West Virginia's best-ever athlete is discussed, names like Randy Moss and Jerry West come immediately to mind. But Parkersburg's Alfred Earle "Greasy" Neale certainly belongs in the conversation, and he's a key figure in the story of the Steagles.

Neale was born within sight of Parkersburg High School and, after starring as a sophomore in 1909, led the Big Reds to a 5-2-1 record while serving as a player-coach his junior year. After a full-time coach was hired prior to his senior year, Neale led Parkersburg to a 10-0 season in 1911 before moving on to West Virginia Wesleyan.

As a freshman in 1912, Neale caught the game-winning touchdown pass in Wesleyan's 19-14 upset of WVU. A year later, Neale caught two TD passes as Wesleyan blanked West Virginia 21-0.

The Emmy-nominated "Amazing Sports Stories" airs at 8 p.m. today on FSN Pittsburgh with a fresh look at the "Steagles" from 1943 - an NFL team made up from players from the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles.

With World War II raging in Europe and the Pacific, 600 NFL players went off to fight. The NFL nearly ceased operations before the 1943 season, but when the decision was made to continue, the league opted to tighten its belt. The Cleveland Rams folded and the Steelers and the Eagles, bitter rivals but cellar dwellers at the time, merged.

On paper, the Steagles were a ragtag band of military draft rejects: aging stars and even active servicemen who managed to get leave for the games. 

The Steagles' starting center was deaf in one ear. One starting defensive end was blind in one eye and nearly legally blind in the other. The Steagles began the season with tailback Johnny Butler, who made his first start one day after being ruled 4-F by his draft board for poor eyesight and bad knees.   

Because of the war effort, the Steagles players are believed to be the only members of an American professional sports franchise who were not only encouraged but required to hold full-time jobs, in addition to playing pro football.

When the Steelers and Eagles merged, both head coaches refused to accept a demotion, so they shared the job - and hated each other while doing it.

Neale and 'Steagles'

When the topic of West Virginia's best-ever athlete is discussed, names like Randy Moss and Jerry West come immediately to mind. But Parkersburg's Alfred Earle "Greasy" Neale certainly belongs in the conversation, and he's a key figure in the story of the Steagles.

Neale was born within sight of Parkersburg High School and, after starring as a sophomore in 1909, led the Big Reds to a 5-2-1 record while serving as a player-coach his junior year. After a full-time coach was hired prior to his senior year, Neale led Parkersburg to a 10-0 season in 1911 before moving on to West Virginia Wesleyan.

As a freshman in 1912, Neale caught the game-winning touchdown pass in Wesleyan's 19-14 upset of WVU. A year later, Neale caught two TD passes as Wesleyan blanked West Virginia 21-0.

Neale didn't play football in 1914, opting instead for baseball, but still managed to find time to earn third-team All-America honors in basketball for the Bobcats. And while Neale was becoming the biggest thing to ever hit Buckhannon, he was making $75 per game playing pro football for the Canton Bulldogs under an assumed name.  

Wheeling was among Neale's brief pro baseball stops in the minor leagues before breaking in with the Cincinnati Reds in 1916. He was a starting right fielder in five of the eight years of his major league career and had a team-high 10 hits (.357 average) in the infamous 1919 World Series against the Black Sox. Three of those hits, including a triple, came in the sixth game against Chicago's Dickie Kerr, who was not implicated in the scandal.

Neale's college football coaching career, which included a three-year stint at WVU, was highlighted by an amazing run in his first season at Washington and Jefferson College in 1921.

By the time 1943 rolled around, Neale had already been the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles for two seasons. After serving a seven-year stint as an assistant to "Ducky" Pond at Yale, Neale wasn't about to give up the head-coaching job with the Steagles to Steelers coach Walt Kiesling when the teams merged. 

Neale took advantage when Kiesling was delayed en route to the Steagles' first and only pre-season training camp in Philadelphia. By the time Keisling arrived, Neale already had the offense learning the T-formation, which was all the rage in those days because of its success in college football by Frank Leahy at Notre Dame and for Red Blaik at Army. Neale focused on the Steagles' offense, while Keisling ran the defense.

Although the Steagles' merger between the Steelers and Eagles lasted just one year, Pittsburgh continued using the T-formation that Neale installed through 1952, becoming the last NFL team to ever use it as its primary offensive set. 

The Steagles beat the odds and posted a winning record of 5-4-1 in 1943, but they were history after just one season. Pittsburgh owner Art Rooney was unhappy with the arrangement and in 1944 merged with the Chicago Cardinals for a season (with much less success). The Eagles rebuilt their roster and continued under Neale, who would take home back-to-back coach of the year awards as Philadelphia won consecutive NFL championships in 1948 and 1949. 

Neale was out of the NFL just two years later in 1951, fired by telegram while in Florida by Eagles owner Jim Clark. But Neale, who helped develop innovative techniques like the fake reverse and triple reverse on offense and man-to-man pass coverage and the five-man defensive line, was more than happy to serve as a consultant for one of his former Steagles a decade later.

Allie Sherman was a 5-foot-8, 168-pound quarterback and former Brooklyn College captain when he came to Neale in 1943 as a rookie with the Steagles. An adequate backup, Sherman found his true calling as a coach, and he put Neale's lessons to good use. Sherman spent the majority of the 1960s as the head coach of the New York Giants, winning two NFL coach of the year awards, just like his mentor Neale, who returned to Parkersburg to live in 1965. Neale died eight years later at the age of 81. 

The story of the Steagles involves the larger-than-life sporting legend from Parkersburg who, despite his myriad achievements in football, baseball and even basketball, never lost touch with his West Virginia roots.

To contact Dave Weekley, send e-mail to Week...@Yahoo.com.