AIA Pioneer Wes Neal Revisits the Past at Alumni Weekend

Ultimately, Wes Neal knew the only way he could continue to make a dramatic impact on the sports outreach world was to leave the staff of Athletes in Action. Though it seemed counterintuitive in 1975 when he and wife Peggy left staff, Neal says looking back now it made perfect sense.

When the Neals returned to the AIA campus for the first AIA Alumni Weekend held Oct. 28-30 in Xenia, Ohio, he brought fond memories of seven years rich with experiences and growth. Though Neal’s roles changed several times throughout his tenure, he was able to see a great impact and refine his calling for ministry.

It was in his last few years with AIA that Neal began to focus his efforts on training leaders for campus work and other areas of the organization, leading him to realize the need for some written materials. He wrote the book “Making of an Athlete of God” while on staff, then saw a shift coming.

“In those days, Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Athletes in Action were not on the same page, and I knew that the only way other groups would use our resources was if they did not have the AIA stamp on them,” recalls Neal, who still writes.

When he announced his thoughts to then-president Dave Hannah, he found a supportive ear. He even wanted to bring two AIA staff members with him to work on materials, and Hannah felt if they sensed God calling them all to that role, he was OK with it. They were.

The Neals stayed in California (where the AIA headquarters was in the early years) for another year before moving to Prescott, Ariz., and eventually to Ohio. Phil Thompson and Rodger Williams assisted in the venture, which was called the Institute for Athletic Perfection. Under these auspices, Neal produced such books as “Total Release Performance,” “The Vanishing Athlete,” “The Handbook on Athletic Perfection” and “The Handbook for Coaching Perfection.”

The early years

Neal’s history with AIA goes back to 1968, when he joined staff at the invitation of Campus Crusade for Christ founder Dr. Bill Bright, who urged him to develop a program for AIA similar to the one he was running in San Bernardino, Calif., called Christian Victory Athletics. The program, which incorporated Bible study into youth athletics, was doing well and Bright saw its potential within the Crusade family. When Neal first came on board, though, Hannah asked him if he was flexible to other roles within the organization. Neal was.

Hannah wanted Neal to develop an athletics outreach to high school students, and “pretty soon I wasn’t even thinking about my old program,” Neal says. Eventually, he began working with students at UCLA and Cal State, seeing the positive influence the outreach was having on tense racial relations of the late 60s and early 70s.

On the circuit

Soon, Olympic weightlifter, the late Russ Nipp approached Neal about participating with him in a weightlifting exhibition outreach in Santa Fe, N.M. Active in lifting in those days, Neal was excited to join the effort.

“That was the beginning of our weightlifting team, though we didn’t know it then,” Neal smiles. “We decided to expand that to other cities as well and Dave (Hannah) wanted to be part of the team too.”

The group recruited Alan Nagel, a former soccer player, to be director of the team and set out in travel trailers to make the circuit. Neal estimates the group did five or six programs each week, visiting high schools and colleges as well as a few prisons. Again, they saw the Christian message do a great work on the racial tensions in the schools.

“When we went into the high schools, we actually brought people together. When we brought up Jesus, the principals at the schools were a little fearful, but it went over well, and they gave us glowing testimonies,” Neal says.

Neal says the connection to Campus Crusade gave the group a built-in network for putting on programs, and the team continued for a second year before moving to Tulsa. Neal stayed on in California, and Hannah asked him to head up the new field staff division. He recruited 25 people to work on campuses starting AIA, and the training was done in one week. Neal said it became clear quickly that there were issues due to lack of training, so a new plan was set. The 25 were invited to return to California for a year of intense training and supervised field experiences. Eighteen accepted the challenge and began meeting every morning for devotions and strategy before heading out in pairs to various campuses in Southern California to practice the principles they were studying.

“It turned out to be an incredible year,” he says. “We had 40 coaches around the Orange County area to start out and more than 100 coaches committed their lives to Christ that year.”

A new adventure

From that success, Neal moved into more of a training role with AIA, leading conferences and seminars for staff members. Shortly, he felt the need to leave staff to complete the training materials. He found great encouragement and affirmation from his writings.

“We had a desire to really get Christian athletes and coaches to partner with Jesus,” he says. “Jesus was the missing person in a lot of Christians’ lives. We just become the conduit for Him to live through.”

Along that same theme, Neal is wrapping up a fiction book he has been writing for four years, based on the idea in Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” – which he has tentatively titled “Jesus Disguised as Me.” He hopes to release the novel in January 2012 through Cross Training Publishing.

By Teresa Young, AIA Communications

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