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sports
Former
coach finally achieves Fame
By Jo Appleton
Summer On-line Forty-Niner
When former NFL
coach, George Allen, came to coach the Long Beach State 49ers
in 1990, he immediately became the inspirational whirlwind
that the struggling football team needed. At the age of 72,
Allen brought the team from a shameful record of losses to
a respectable 6-5 record in one season.
That is why all who still work in the LBSU athletic department
and vividly remember his dynamic presence say he should have
been inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame long before
August 3.
On a warm, breezy afternoon at Fawcett Stadium, behind the
Hall of Fame, Allen’s son, Sen. George Allen (R-Va), accepted
the honor on behalf of his late father, who died of heart
failure New Year’s Eve 1990, in front of a crowd of nearly
18,000.
“I think it’s about time,” said Steve Janisch, assistant sports
information director at LBSU during Allen’s tenure.
“I believe in the one year coach Allen was here, I learned
more about organizational skills and what a positive work
ethic can do,” Janisch said.
Former football secretary De Leon Price, who worked close
to Allen during his year at the university, said she remembers
how he disliked the brown and gold colors of the football
team’s uniform saying, ‘we’re not wearing that!’
He decided to change it to black and gold, which are now the
official colors of the university. We have to be more distinguished,
Price said she remembered him saying.
Allen would hand out tickets to the football games to rally
up support, said Mario Leon, who worked in the LBSU grounds
department.
“He was a great guy and a great motivator,” Leon said. “He
was really appreciated.”
In fact, to show how much the university appreciated Allen,
they named their new soccer field after him. The black and
gold signs around the field read: “George H. Allen Field.
The Future is Now,” in honor of his positive and now famous
TV quote about his newly-acquired Redskins team in 1971.
Dede Rossi, executive director of sports events at LBSU, said
the former coach just had a way of making people feel they
could do anything.
She said she remembered when Allen started a game in Utah
by running from the hotel to the stadium, with his team following
him onto the field.
Allen spent 23 years as a head coach in both the collegiate
and professional football ranks. His professional coaching
career started with the Los Angeles Rams, according to a 1990
Long Beach Football Media magazine.
Whether it was last Saturday or last century that he was enshrined
in American sports history, “The Future is Now,” for George
Allen’s legend will always be remembered by those close to
him as one of a kind.
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Athletic
Department
Former LBSU football coach George Allen was
inducted into the Hall of Fame this month. His son accepted
the honor on his father’s behalf.
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