Neil Neasmith, one of Kingston’s finest all-round athletes and a longtime, highly respected basketball official, has passed away at age 88. Neasmith excelled at basketball, baseball, fastball and tennis and was inducted into the Kingston & District Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.

Neasmith arrived in Kingston in the early 1950s from Montreal and was a standout athlete at Kingston Collegiate, winning two Eastern Ontario titles in basketball and quarterbacking the football team. 

According to fellow Kingston Hall of Famer, Tom Carty, Neasmith was a natural athlete, “he had the quickest first step and the best hand-to-eye coordination I ever saw in a local athlete.”

Neasmith and Charlie Pester were Kingston’s most dominant basketball players from the late 1950s through the 1960s. A high-scoring guard, Neasmith was named an all-star in all eight seasons he played in the Border Basketball League, helping Kingston Bordeau Heaters and Morton’s Record Bar teams win six league championships. 

In 1968, Kingston won its third straight Border League title and Neasmith outscored Pester, leading the league with 27 points per game and a remarkable 36 points per game in the playoffs. 

“I first saw Neil play when he was playing for Morton’s Record Bar and he was a smooth player that looked like, and played like Jerry West,” remembers longtime friend and fellow official Roland Billings.  

“Neil coolly created opportunities for everyone else but his sense of how the game flowed was a pleasure to watch. He was not a shoot-first player, but when his shot opened up he was a smooth shooter, and if you overplayed the shot he could make you look foolish by blowing past you.” 

Neasmith played on three OABA Senior B championship teams in 1960, 1965 and 1968. He won an OABA Intermediate Championship in 1964, was a Canadian Senior B Finalist in 1965 and an Eastern Canadian Senior B Champion in 1968.  

In 1967, Neasmith was one of 25 players invited to try out for the Canadian basketball team that would compete at the Pan-Am Games.

For generations of young Kingston basketball players, Neasmith will be remembered as a respected internationally certified referee who worked hundreds of high school, college and university games. More importantly, he was a great mentor to many young officials, including Billings.

“When I joined the referee board in 1974, Neil was on the Technical Committee that went through the rules at a series of clinics in the fall and then evaluated officials. Neil took a great deal of pride in teaching not just what the rule said, but how it applied to real-world situations.”

“He spent countless hours running clinics for aspiring officials, doing the same for teams and players, and sitting in gyms to evaluate officials for hours on weekends to help make them better — all with no compensation. The highest honour the local referee board can give is to make someone an honorary life member and that recognition was given to Neil when he stepped down from officiating in 1997.”

Billings, the decades long President of the Pete Petersen Basketball League, learned many lessons from his close friend while working games together, “Neil always told me that teams didn’t care if it was your fifth game of the day. They expected your best effort, and having called some of those fifth games of the day with Neil, the teams always got our best effort.” 

Neasmith was also a longtime supporter of the Pete Petersen Basketball League, regularly seen at the gym and at fundraisers for the organization.

Best known in basketball circles as a player and official, Neasmith was also an outstanding baseball and fastball player and excelled at tennis at the club level.

In the 1950’s Neasmith played in Max Jackson’s Lions Little League Baseball for Cliff Earl’s Mustangs, eventually moving up to the Kingston Baseball Association (KBA) City League, where he played seven seasons and in 1964 he was named an all-star centrefield.

For well over a decade Neasmith was one of Kingston’s top fastball players, a sure-handed shortstop with great range and speed, who could also hit for average. Neasmith won two batting titles and over his 13 seasons was a league all-star three times and won three league championships. 

Carty, a former teammate, remembers how good Neasmith was at shortstop.

“I played leftfield at Victoria Park for Smart’s Braves and Neil was at shortstop. He was so good at going back on pop-ups I rarely had to make a catch. If it was too deep for Neil to get to, it was on the road running behind leftfield and was either a homerun or a ground-rule double”.

In 1965, playing for Smart’s Braves in the Kingston Amateur Softball Association (KASA), Neasmith hit .362 to win the league batting title, while Smart’s won the championship. The following season, Neasmith won another league batting crown, hitting an amazing .444 

A member of the Kingston Tennis Club since 1958, Neil won three singles club championships (plus one at Kingston Tennis World) and had 13 doubles and mixed-doubles championships at the Kingston Club, along with winning the over-45 singles title. 

One of the highlights of Neil’s athletic career was in 1988 teaming up with his son, Jeff, and competing at five provincial and national Family Tennis Championships as a father-and-son team. At the age of 55, Neil and Jeff were invited to compete at the World Championships in San Antonio in 1993. 

Neil was also a Past President, tournament official and tournament co-chair at the Napier Street Club.

Neil was a family man. He married his wife, Mary, in 1963 and they raised three kids: Julie, Jeff and Leslie. Active in his church at Princess Street United, Neil enjoyed a stellar 35-year career in education as a Vice-Principal and Principal at Victoria Public School, Marysville Public School on Wolfe Island, Robert Meek, Elginburg & District Public School, Sunnyside Public School, Rideau Public and Portsmouth Public School. He also taught at Kingscourt Public School. Neil was highly respected by fellow teachers and staff members, and had a positive influence on hundreds of students.

Neil leaves behind a remarkable legacy as one of Kingston’s greatest athletes, a highly respected basketball official and an educator who truly made a difference.  

Mark Potter is a longtime Kingston broadcaster who knew firsthand Neil Neasmith was a true gentleman and covered many basketball games Neil officiated.