Neal Steinhauer (August 18, 1944 – September 7, 2020) was a champion shot put and discus competitor for University of Oregon track and field in the late 1960s. His titles included NCAA shot put champion, 3-time All-American, 3-time Pacific Coast Conference champion and Northern Division champion in the shot and discus. He was AAU national champion in 1969 and runner-up two other times.
A graduate of North Eugene High School, Neal picked up the event as a strapping 6-2 junior, the year he grew five inches and added thirty pounds to his frame. Joining the Ducks program in 1964, Steinhauer emerged one year later as a contributor to Oregon’s national team championship, winning the shot title as a sophomore.
He won a silver medal in the shot put at the 1967 Pan American Games, finishing just behind his biggest rival, the great Randy Matson. Neal also won two medals at the 1967 Summer Universiade in Tokyo (gold in the shot put and bronze in the discus). Steinhauer set his personal best in shot (68-11 1/4) on March 25, 1967, at a meet in Sacramento. He was on the cover of the February 1969 issue of Track and Field News. Neal also set an indoor world record on multiple occasions during the 1967 season and established his own mastery of Matson, who never liked the indoor implement.
He was voted Oregon's Outstanding Track and Field performer three times by his teammates and also won the Emerald Athletic Trophy as most outstanding in combining athletics, scholarship, and citizenship.
Neal Steinhauer was inducted into the University of Oregon Athletics Hall of Fame in 1995.