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sports:
football
First 10 years
down after sudden death
By Andres Cardenas
On-line Forty-Niner
A sign greets those
that enter George H. Allen Field for events with the quote;
"The future is now."
George H. Allen
Field has been home to the Long Beach State women's soccer
team since its inception in 1998. The kinesiolgy and physical
education department also uses the field for golf classes.
The field was dedicated
to George Allen in 1991 just eight months after his death.
When the football team practiced that summer on the field
named after their fallen leader, it would be the last time
a football team would prepare for an upcoming season for LBSU.
"I walk by
the sign that says George Allen Field everyday," said
LBSU Athletic Director Bill Shumard. "I remember what
great hope and pride George Allen brought to this campus in
just one short season."
"George Allen
was a fascinating man and a wonderful coach," said former
LBSU president Curtis McCray.
The quote on the
sign was a saying of Allen's, who was brought in to revive
a money-starved program. Allen was a former NFL head coach
that led the Washington Redskins to the Super Bowl in 1972.
Allen was first
contacted by LBSU to help search for a new coach for the program,
McCray said. During McCray's first meeting with Allen, the
issue of the coaching position was resolved.
"I met him
for the first time then; it was here he said, 'I've found
your coach -- me,'" McCray said. After considering the
offer, McCray viewed the hiring of Allen as the boost the
program needed.
"I saw the
opportunity to rebuild the program," McCray said, "put
it on a new track, build audience, and stabilize it financially."
Not only was the
hiring of Allen a way to revitalize the program, McCray said
it also attracted national media attention to LBSU.
In his first and
only season as head coach, Allen turned a losing program into
a winner, almost overnight. The 49ers finished 6-5 that year,
winning all six home games.
"This is the
most rewarding season because the program is down and to come
back like we did," said Allen, after the last game of
the season against UNLV, "there will never be another
season like this one."
Tragically, Allen
was right. He died on New Year's Eve, 1990, of a cardiac arrest.
Allen's assistant coach, former Oakland Raider Willie Brown,
took over as head coach, but the team never recovered and
finished the next season 3-8.
The decision
"I have had
to make a lot of decisions in the 10 years since then,"
McCray recalled. "But none has been as difficult as the
one to eliminate football at LBSU."
His decision came
on Dec. 10, 1991. Football would be cut due to financial reasons,
along with the swimming, golf and men's tennis teams, which
had folded earlier in the year.
When McCray arrived
at LBSU in August of 1988, California's economy was beginning
to enter the recession. McCray said that the entire CSU and
LBSU systems were facing cuts, and that sports programs would
be the first to go before staff and faculty members would
be laid off.
Being the most
expensive program, football was the most obvious choice. The
program had been threatened before. In 1986, former LBSU President
Stephen Horn gave the team six weeks to raise $300,000 or
the program would be cut.
The sport's popularity
and resiliency kept it around.
"No doubt,
there were those on campus who loved 49er football,"
McCray said.
However the sport
was not popular enough.
"We played
games at Veterans Stadium before dwindling crowds," McCray
said. "Clearly we were not drawing the numbers necessary
to meet NCAA I-A demands."
Even with the hiring
of Allen, attendance still remained a disappointment and the
cuts had to be made.
"I felt very
badly making the announcement," McCray said.
Players and coaches
were present at the press conference announcing the cut of
the football program.
"I knew how
badly I was going to disappoint them," McCray said. "I
knew how disappointed I was in myself, as president, that
I had not figured out how to make the program succeed and
deal with the budget problems of football and of the university."
The news hit athletes
hard.
"It is like
another death; last year it was Coach Allen and now this,"
49er football player Irving Brooker said.
Players that decided
to stay at LBSU would be allowed to keep their scholarship
while others that wanted to continue to play football would
transfer to other universities. One of those that moved to
the University of Georgia was current Denver Bronco running
back,
Terrell Davis.
The autumn after
football had been dropped, McCray said that the campus had
moved on.
"The campus
still concentrated on budget issues, other sports, the arts,
a new chancellor, AIDS, and getting graduated," McCray
said. "I am certain there were those persons on campus
for whom the loss of football created a large hole in the
autumn, but their sentiment did not rise to a level that I
detected it."
The future is
uncertain
A picture sits
in Shumard's office that has Allen running out with his team
before a game. From his office in the Athletic Trailers, Shumard
can look out at George Allen Field and wonder about what it
would be like to have a football team.
"I look out
here sometimes and fantasize what it would be like to have
a football program," Shumard said. "But you need
more than practice field, you need a 30,000-seat stadium."
The nearest location
that could accommodate the 49ers, Shumard said, would be either
in Anaheim or Los Angeles.
Former Athletic
Director Dave O'Brien began working on a plan for bringing
football back about seven years, Shumard said. Both worked
on a plan, but the costs were too much for LBSU. The budget
for a team at the Division I-A level was $2 million.
Recently, former
Associated Students Inc. President Toby Sexton had a proposal
to bring football back as well. The proposal called for a
large referendum that would provide the money for the team
with student fees.
Current A.S.I.
President Robert Garcia worked with Sexton on the plan, but
LBSU rejected the idea.
"I think that
it would be great to have football back," Garcia said.
"But I don't think that this is the time for it. Our
university cannot afford it, and there is no concrete plan
for it to succeed."
Besides Sexton's
plan, there has been no other proposal to bring football back.
"There has
been some conversation," said LBSU President Robert Maxson,
"but not as much as one might think."
However, another
issue involved is the issue of gender equity. Since Shumard
has been athletic director, LBSU has been focusing on gender
equity.
"We had a
five-year plan that we just recently completed of brining
our program into gender equity," Shumard said.
If football were
added there would be 100 more males playing sports for LBSU.
In order to balance it out, Shumard said there would need
to be five more women's teams added. These new teams would
add another $2 million to the athletic budget.
Also, there would
need to be a conference for the team to play in. The Big West
Conference -- formed in 1969 by California universities wanting
a Division I football conference -- will no longer be sponsoring
football after this year.
As for a timeline
on when football could return, Maxson said he does not want
to say never, but it will not be anytime soon.
Shumard agrees.
"I couldn't
even venture a guess on a timeline at this point," Shumard
said "There is not even any serious discussion."
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