O’Neil is the first of two distinguished letter winner candidates in this year’s Hall of Fame class. He was a four-year member of the football team and also pitched during his senior year on the baseball team.
O’Neil stepped up in his junior year to set then records for passing yards in a game and a season. He was voted the most improved offensive player as a junior. As a senior he kept the momentum up, once again setting then records for yards passing in a game, season and career en route to earning the team offensive MVP.
O’Neil was also a freshman on the 1979 NU football team that was inducted into the Norwich University Athletic Hall of Fame after setting numerous program records en route to an 8-2 season.
“The freshman year season really set the tone for my next three years at Norwich,” O’Neil said. “Football was the keystone that kept me engaged at Norwich.”
Upon graduating, O’Neil returned the following fall to serve as an assistant football coach under Barry Mynter’s staff for the 1983 season.
“Norwich served me well in preparing me for my entrance into the Army,” O’Neil said.
O’Neil went on to serve 21 years of active duty where he held leadership positions at various levels of command. He retired as a major in 2005. He served as a Field Artillery Officer with the First Infantry Division in Fort Riley, Kansas and with the Sixth Infantry Division in Fort Richardson, Alaska.
In 1992, he was assigned to the United States Military Academy at West Point as the Assistant Director of the Performance Enhancement Center and also as an instructor with the Behavioral Science and Leadership Department, where he taught psychology. O’Neil’s last assignment with the Army was with the New England Recruiting Battalion as the Battalion Executive Officer.
O’Neil is a native of Winchester, Mass. and holds his Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Education and Masters in Education. He currently resides in North Berwick, Maine with his wife Julia. They have been married for 34 years and have two kids, Avery and Chad. He has one grandson, Mason.
