Neuhauser defeated nine finalists on stage, who had been whittled down from approximately two million schoolchildren,[2] to win the first ever National Spelling Bee, held in Washington D.C. in June 1925.[1] He had prepared for the bee by copying the dictionary into a blank notebook.[2] Neuhauser, who was eleven years old at the time of the contest, met U.S. President Calvin Coolidge and was awarded five hundred dollars in gold pieces for his victory.[2] His hometown of Louisville, Kentucky gave Neuhauser a parade in his honor and presented him with bouquets of gladioli.[1][2] His classmates and school also gave him a bicycle.[1] During his later life, Neuhauser often appeared as a guest of honor at more recent spelling bees.[1] He also appeared in the 2002 documentary film Spellbound.[2]
Following the end of World War II, Neuhauser returned to General Electric as a patent attorney. He worked for GE in Connecticut and New York City, before moving permanently to Maryland in the mid-1950s.[2] He remained on the staff of General Electric, and, among other things, was manager of GE's Washington Patent Operation, where he formally trained many patent attorneys, in a training program that had 16 prospective patent attorneys at a time. In 1978 he left GE to join Bernard Rothwell & Brown, a law firm based in Washington D.C.[1][2]
Neuhauser died from myelodysplastic syndrome at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, on March 11, 2011, at the age of 97.[2] He was survived by his wife of 66 years, Mary Virginia Clark Neuhauser; four children – Linda, Frank, Charles and Alan; and five grandchildren.[1]
