Endless thoughts and wide eyes turn to unlimited dreams and aspirations.

For Neale Hood, he’s currently living it out in Kansas City. He is the vice president of partnership development for the current NFL Dynasty in the Kansas City Chiefs.

The 2003 Seymour High School graduate just received his second Super Bowl ring after the Chiefs defeated the 49ers 25-22 in overtime.

“It’s pretty surreal to see the success of the team. The team is full of great people and great leadership,” Hood said. “They’ve built a great culture that pulls everyone together to work in the same direction.”

Neale’s mother, Peggy, spoke on the Super Bowl win.

“We are excited about the win,” she said. “As parents, it is exciting to watch your child be able to experience such exciting events and be a part of them.”

Neale specializes in forming long-lasting relationships with corporate sponsorships. The goal is to team with these brands to raise awareness or funding for the team.

“It could be in the form of a logo, social content, practice patches,” he said. “It really has a lot of different avenues of what you can do.”

Commercials, promos, billboards, any type of corporate advertising associated with the Chiefs, Hood is involved.

The 38-year-old didn’t have any contacts when he started out as a marketing intern for IndyCar in April 2010. He worked his way through the ranks, eventually landing a partner strategy position with the motorsports giant.

He then worked as a director of business development for Michael Waltrip Racing for three years before moving to Furniture Row Racing. Hood then got his senior director of partnerships gig with IndyCar in January 2018.

He worked there until March 2020 before working for John Force Racing in Brownsburg for nine months. Hood then took the job he currently has with the Chiefs, where he has been since June 2022.

Hood spoke on working in professional sports.

“It’s very competitive, and you must have a relentless work ethic,” he said. “We don’t have an offseason, and you have to make sacrifices, like missing holidays. Everyone likes the glitz and glamour, but not everyone wants to do the hard work that’s required.”

Hood mentioned he enjoys the fact that his job isn’t the same thing every single day.

He said his favorite part of the job is the people with whom he works.

“They’re amazing and some extremely talented folks,” he said. “I also like seeing my work going into the world and seeing it perform.”

The work Hood is referencing is like his re-creation of the famous chefs Snickers commercial, which portrays a field worker who mistakes the franchise for the job title. The commercial stars Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.

He also enjoys game day hosting, which allows him to connect with potential corporate prospects as he brings them onto the field before games.

“It’s like when you have a wedding first look for them,” Hood said. “They can’t believe how close they are. It’s really cool to see how they react when they come out of the tunnel.”

Hood had no troubles blending into the Kansas City area, thanks to growing up in the Seymour area.

“I’m grateful for Seymour because of the values I was taught,” he said. “My parents and sister are still in town, and we try to make it back a few times a year. People from town still always tell me how proud they are.”

“Everyone here in Kansas City is awesome,” Hood added. “It’s been amazing out here, and it’s checked all the boxes. I would still love it even if we didn’t have this type of success.”

Hood played for former Seymour football coach Joe Goodman on the gridiron. He developed his love for the game under the legendary Owls coach.

“My love for football grew a lot under coach Goodman,” Hood said. “Seymour was blessed to have a guy like him on the sidelines. He taught us to love football, but he was teaching us more about life. I always enjoyed what he had to say. ‘Play hard and play smart’ is what he always said.”

The Chiefs will look to accomplish the first three-peat in the Super Bowl era next year.