Robert Reese Neyland was born February 17, 1892, in Greenville, Texas, the son of Robert R. and Pauline Lewis Neyland. He attended Greenville High School, where he had an outstanding record in academics and athletics. He then attended Burleson Junior College and later studied engineering at Texas A&M for one year. In 1912, when Neyland was 20 years of age, Congressman Sam Rayburn of Texas gave Neyland an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. Neyland excelled in boxing and baseball at the Military Academy before graduating near the top of his class in 1916.
After serving at the Mexican Border, in France and eventually at Fort Bliss, Texas, Neyland began graduate work in 1920 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. He returned to West Point in 1921 as an aide to General Douglas MacArthur, then Commanding General at the Academy. Neyland also assisted in coaching football, baseball and boxing. It was during this period that Neyland and MacArthur developed their long and lasting friendship.
On July 16, 1923, Neyland married Ada "Peggy" Fitch of Grand Rapids, Michigan. They had met while she was visiting friends at the Academy. They had two sons, Robert, Jr., born February 11, 1930, and Lewis, born December 6, 1933.
Neyland had assisted as a football
coach at the Academy and was anxious to see what he could do on his own. In
1925, there were openings at both
the University of Iowa and the University of Tennessee. Neyland
chose Tennessee partly "because at Tennessee the only way any coach could go
was up." He was named head coach at UT in December of 1925 replacing M. Beal
Banks, and his major assignment was to beat Vanderbilt.
Neyland's 1926 team posted an 8-1 record, the only blemish being a 20-3 loss at the hands of Vanderbilt. In 1927, his team was 8-0-1 and in 1928, his third season, the Vols won 9, lost 0, and tied 1. The key during the 1928 season was Tennessee's 15-13 upset win over Alabama. It was at this point that the "Vols" became a name in football across the country.
The War Department ordered Neyland to Panama in 1935, but urged on by Knoxvillians, he retired from the Army in 1936 and returned to his old job at UT. By 1940, he had become the first coach in history to take a team to the three major post-season bowls in succession. Neyland was recalled to active duty in May, 1941, and he spent the next five years in service, rising to the rank of brigadier general during World War II. He returned to UT in 1946, won a national championship in 1951, and retired from coaching at the end of the 1952 season. After stepping down as head coach, Neyland remained as athletic direct the the University of Tennessee.
Several months prior to his death, General Neyland began working on a plan for supporters of UT athletic teams to show their interest in UT's academic programs by offering scholarships to attract outstanding student scholars to the University. General Neyland himself was an outstanding scholar, as well as an athlete during his college days at West Point. It was the General's dream that the University offer four-year academic merit scholarships to students who possessed outstanding academic and leadership qualities.
Following Neyland's death, Dr. Andrew
D. Holt, 
then UT president, announced that a nationwide
campaign would be launched to raise a minimum of $100,000 to establish the Robert
R. Neyland Scholarship Fund. In October 1962, at half-time of the UT vs. Alabama
game, 165 women representing UT's sororities collected more than $10,000 in
a 15-minute time period at Neyland Stadium to launch the effort. By the end
of fall 1962, more than $65,000 had been committed to the Neyland Scholarship
fund. In the spring of 1963, a decision was made that proceeds from the annual
Orange and White spring football game would go to help build the Neyland Scholarship
Fund.
The first Neyland Scholarships were awarded in 1963. The first two recipients were Melissa Ann Baker of Maryville, Tennessee (now Mrs. Ann Baker Furrow, a former member of the UT Board of Trustees) and Mr. Robert English Allen of Columbia, Tennessee.
As of the spring of 1996, the Neyland Scholarship Endowment Fund had reached $1,391,794. By academic year 1995-96, the number of Neyland Scholars to have attended The University of Tennessee, Knoxville totaled 116.
--We acknowledge direct use of information appearing in two books: "Tennessee, Football's Greatest Dynasty", by Tom Siler, (1961), and "Bob Neyland, 37 Years A Volunteer", by Ed Harris, (1962).