Neale Stoner Appointed Executive Director of California Bowl

FRESNO — Neale Stoner, a former athletic director at Cal State Fullerton and Illinois, was named executive director of the California Raisin Bowl on Friday.

Stoner, 53, will take over Feb. 1 from Glen Driscoll, who is retiring as head of the first of each winter’s college bowl football games.

Stoner was chosen from 70 applicants, said John Wallace, president of the sponsoring Greater San Joaquin Valley Sports Assn.

As athletic director at Fullerton in the late 1970s, Stoner helped launch the Cal Bowl, which began in 1981 at Fresno’s Bulldog Stadium. The game annually matches the champions of the Big West and Mid-American conferences.

Stoner was athletic director at Illinois from 1979 through 1988. He resigned in July, 1988, after he had been accused of improper use of gifts and services. Stoner and other athletic department administrators was charged with receiving personal favors from university maintenance workers who were on company time. He also was accused of paying for vacations with athletic department funds.