At 5-11, Beal was the undersized engine that drove Joe B. Hall's 'Twin Towers' teams to three straight SEC championships and the 1984 Final Four, setting a UK single-game tournament record with 14 assists against BYU and earning Mid-East Regional MVP honors. Featured in Sports Illustrated as a high school senior after leading Covington's Holmes High to a 33-3 record, his 96-24 record across four years made him one of the winningest point guards in program history. The 1984 team is often called the best Kentucky team to not win a championship, and Beal was its heartbeat.