![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/lebanon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/08\/3-2-1024x683.jpg\")
Families and community leaders improved the fields, added locker rooms, and expanded the facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2021, the baseball field was named in his honor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was very honored, of course,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was funny, though, after it was announced, I had a few old friends call to ask if I was retiring or even still living. I feel privileged to be able to continue coaching in the stadium bearing my name.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
McNeal was also inducted into the Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was very rewarding that this recognition came after many years of pouring my life into the game of baseball,\u201d McNeal commented. \u201cIt was even better with my family and friends present at the ceremony. I feel like God has blessed me with a family that supports and loves me and my dream career, and that the relationships built during this time outweigh the wins and losses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the decades, McNeal\u2019s teams brought home four football state titles and three in baseball. But McNeal feels it had less to do with trophies and more with leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEach one of them had a close-knit senior class,\u201d McNeal recalled. \u201cThey were committed to their sport and were outstanding leaders for the younger players.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That kind of commitment, McNeal believes, carries far beyond the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s our mission to help our athletes to be outstanding men, faithful husbands, and loving fathers \u2014 and state champions!\u201d he said proudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McNeal said he\u2019s had enough football and baseball to be content, but that\u2019s never been what keeps him going. It\u2019s the quiet work of building teams, trust, and the kind of relationships that last long after the season ends with the community, his players, and coaches who\u2019ve stood beside him year after year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After decades on the field, that\u2019s still what brings him back. GN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" COACH JOHN McNeal scanned the hallway at Friendship Christian School \u2014 not for hall passes or horseplay, but for instincts. One boy\u2019s shove and a quick twist out of a headlock might\u2019ve looked like a blitzing linebacker and a defensive end blowing up third down. A stolen notebook on the fly carried the energy of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":22856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/lebanon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2025\/08\/Story-1-photo1-2-1024x683.jpg\")