football player
Personal Information
Born March 26, 1960 in San Diego, CA, to Harold and Gwen Allen.
Education: Graduated from the University of Southern California.
Career
In college set the all-time single season rushing record with 2,342 yards, 1981; First round selection of the Oakland Raiders, led NFL in scoring, 1982; set NFL combined rushing and receiving record with 2,314 yards, 1985; Acquired as a free agent by the Kansas City Chiefs, 1993; First player in NFL to record 10,000 yards rushing and 5,000 yards receiving, 1995; broke rushing touchdown record of 110, 1996; retired and moved to broadcasting for CBS Sports, 1997.
Life's Work
Marcus Allen was born on March 26, 1960, to Harold and Gwen Allen in San Diego, CA. As a child he was interested in many different activities such as singing in the church choir, but his real passion was sports. Allen attended Lincoln High School and played football, where he was a standout on the defensive side of the ball. He made a commitment to playing offense only during his senior year, when he became the team's quarterback. In 1977 he led Lincoln to the county championship. Allen received national attention after scoring five touchdowns in the game. When it came time for Allen to select a college, he had scholarship offers as a defensive player, but very few universities showed interest in him as an offensive player. All of his other offers fell to the wayside when the University of Southern California (USC) offered him a scholarship. He wanted to be a USC Trojan even if that meant he would never play offense. Allen began his career at USC as a defensive back, but when injuries thinned out the tailback position, Coach John Robinson asked the awe-struck freshman to move to the offensive side of the ball. Allen agreed and a Hall of Fame football player was born.
Allen played sparingly behind Charles White, who was having an All- American season. During Allen's sophomore year, he moved to fullback, taking on linemen and linebackers who weighed 100 pounds or more than the 19-year-old converted defensive back. Though he endured horrendous punishment, it was better than sitting the bench, and he helped Charles White win the Heisman Trophy. Allen rushed for his first ever 100 yard game against Texas Tech when White was injured, but spent the rest of the season blocking. In his junior year Allen was named the starting tailback, but was criticized for not performing as spectacularly as White. He gained 1,563 yards to finish second in the nation in rushing, but many USC fans and alumni were not satisfied with the team or its tailback. Despite what many considered to be a down year at tailback, Allen entered the 1981 season proclaiming that he would gain 2,000 yards--more than any other college running back in the history of the game. Allen began his senior season ripping off 210 yards against Tennessee, 274 against Indiana, and 208 against second- ranked Oklahoma. Allen rolled to 2,342 yards in his final season, capping his last game as a Trojan with a 219-yard effort in the Rose Bowl. Allen won the Heisman Trophy with 1,797 points and 441 first place votes. Though he was voted the top player in college football, former teammate Ronnie Lott remembered a different side of Allen: "When I give talks to high school players, I tell them about Marcus Allen. Not the guy who won the Heisman Trophy ... but Marcus Allen, the college sophomore who blocked his (tail) off to help someone else with a Heisman."
Allen was considered too slow coming out of college for a premier running back position in the NFL, so he trained with UCLA track coach Jim Bush. Another knock against Allen was that he liked the high life too much as a friend of fellow Heisman Trophy winner and USC tailback O.J. Simpson. On draft day, the recently relocated Los Angeles Raiders made Allen their first round pick and the tenth pick all-around. After a long training camp, Allen was named the starter and rushed for 100 yards in his first game. Then following the second week of the season, the players went on strike for eight weeks. Though Allen signed for a $400,000 bonus and made $150,000 a year, he still lived in a hotel in Oakland with no car. After the strike-marred 1982 season ended, Allen was named the Rookie of the Year and was invited to the Pro Bowl.
In Allen's second season, he rushed for 1,014 yards and the Raiders went to the Super Bowl against the heavily favored Washington Redskins. The Raiders dominated the Redskins and won the game 38-9. Allen was named the game's MVP after gaining 191 yards on 20 carries.
Socially Allen traveled in lofty circles. He was a regular guest at Simpson's Brentwood estate with Al Cowlings and other sports luminaries such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ahmad Rashad, and Lynn Swann. But his success was leading him to trouble as he gained more attention from the media and the Raiders team and owner got less. Raiders maverick owner Al Davis was becoming increasingly aware that one of his players was being singled out above the team. Allen continued his individual brilliance the following year in 1984, leading the league in touchdowns with 18 and gaining 1,168 yards, but the Raiders faltered. By the end of the season Davis was openly calling Allen a selfish player to his coaching staff.
Allen went into the 1985 season at the top of his game and became the centerpiece of the Raiders offense. He justified the organization's confidence with a breakout season. He gained 1,759 yards on the ground and set a single-season NFL record with 2,314 total yards. He was named the Player of the Year and voted to his third Pro Bowl, but the 12-4 Raiders again lost in the first round of the playoffs. Davis was soon complaining about the team being too " one dimensional."
Allen hoped to follow up the 1985 season with another strong campaign, but he injured his ankle in the third game. Despite the lack of any fracture, the pain did not go away throughout the season. Allen tried to play through the pain and even took a shot of painkillers before one game to be able to play. But he could not play the same. In a pivotal game with the Philadelphia Eagles, Allen fumbled the ball as the Raiders were in the midst of a game- winning drive, and the team lost the game. The Raiders lost the next four contests to finish the season out of the playoffs. Many Raiders observers felt that Allen's career with the organization went downhill after that one game against the Eagles.
The 1987 season opened again with a players' strike. Davis viewed the action as a personal betrayal rather than a work stoppage. Allen was one of the players who stayed out of camp over the course of the entire strike. He had another surprise waiting for him when he returned to the Raiders. Davis signed baseball player and college football star Bo Jackson to play for the team in the second half of the season. Allen regarded this move as an attempt to replace him, but he kept his feelings to himself. Midway through a frustrating season, he even volunteered to play fullback while Jackson played tailback. This arrangement improved the tense situation, but the Raiders were a team in decline. Longtime Raiders head coach Tom Flores even retired after the disappointing 1987 season.
The new man to lead the Raiders was former Broncos assistant Mike Shanahan. Shanahan tried to change the Raiders' long-ball system, but was often overruled by Davis. Allen had another mediocre campaign in 1988 splitting time with Jackson. He gained 831 yards on the ground and caught only 34 passes. The only bright side of the 1988 season for Allen came outside of the professional arena. He met Kathryn Eickstaedt, a model from Wisconsin, who would become his wife.
Allen's contract was up after the season and his agent was made to wait until the beginning of the next regular season for a new contract offer. Allen returned to a team in turmoil. Shanahan was fired after four games. The next coach was former Raiders player and assistant coach Art Shell, the first black head coach in the NFL. Allen's excitement at playing for the new coach was tempered after he injured his knee in the first game of Shell's tenure. He spent eight weeks on the inactive list and did not get significant playing time for the rest of the season. The 1990 season began as the previous one did--with Allen holding out, or, depending on one's point of view, being held out. When he finally returned to camp, he was listed as the fourth running back. And matters did not improve for the former star. Allen claimed that all the coaches had been instructed by Davis not to play him and even Raider quarterback Jay Schroeder had been told not to throw the ball his way. Though the Raiders won the AFL West that year, Allen was used only in short yardage situations when the team desperately needed yards. The 1991 season started off badly as he tore a ligament in his knee in the first game. Allen missed eight games, and the Raiders lost to Kansas City in the first round of the playoffs.
In 1992 the five-time Pro Bowl player was again listed fourth on the depth chart. Allen was told before games that he would not be playing and was used only for third-down plays. He would sit on the end of the bench separate from the rest of the team. After walking out of practice one day, Allen decided he had had enough. He called Shell and demanded to be traded, but Shell told him Davis would not trade him. After confronting Davis, Allen was told that no other team would be interested in him. Allen was stuck being the best football player on a team that would not play him. Allen felt he had no choice but to file a free agency lawsuit against the Raiders and the NFL. During the Raiders game against the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football, ABC aired an interview that Allen had done just before the game with Al Michaels. Allen unloaded on Davis accusing the Raiders' owner of trying to ruin his career. Allen's interview was so incendiary that Michaels told Allen to call if he wanted to retract any of his statements. Allen would not back down and the interview was aired. The reaction was immediate. Though Davis made no public statement, Coach Shell went on the air, accusing Allen of lying. Despite all the division he had caused within the organization, Allen's teammates voted to give him the Commitment to Excellence Award as the team's most inspirational player. After 11 years with the team, his time with the Raiders was over. Allen told "Sport" magazine's Dan Dieffenbach that he was not bitter about his time with Los Angeles: "To me, it is all an education. It was a wonderful education. Although I hated it, I didn't realize it at the time. When I was going through it, there was not light at the end of the tunnel for me, but when you look back at it and deal with everything, it was a tremendous experience."
In 1993 Allen signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. Coach Marty Schottenheimer aggressively pursued him as a free agent and the Chiefs made the most substantial contract offer. Before he left Los Angeles, Allen married Kathryn in the backyard of Simpson's Brentwood mansion. Allen went to Kansas City and had fun playing football again. Though he did not start for the first eight games, Allen was contributing to the team along with the Chiefs other big import, Joe Montana. One of his biggest moments was scoring his 100th career touchdown against the Raiders. After the game no one on Allen's former team even shook his hand. Allen started the last eight games of the regular season and led the Chiefs to the AFC Conference Championship, where Kansas City lost to the Buffalo Bills. Allen finished his ninth season as the Chiefs Most Valuable Player (MVP), earned another trip to the Pro Bowl after a six-year absence, and was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
Allen recovered from the 1993 season and took a few months off to recuperate. He was in the Cayman Islands when he heard his friend's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, had been murdered. Further, his friend, O. J. Simpson, went on trial for the murder. Allen continued to support Simpson throughout the trial, and he and his wife even visited Simpson in jail. When the 1994 season opened, Allen was very distracted. There were rumors he was seen driving Simpson's white Bronco on the night Nicole was murdered and that he had been having an affair with Nicole. But Allen became focused on football and helped lead the Chiefs to a perfect start. Despite the team's success, Allen's close relationship with Simpson continued to cause him grief. Assistant Prosecutor on the Simpson murder trial Christopher Darden came to Kansas City to interview Allen and asked him if he were having an affair with Nicole. The rumor escalated after appearing in the National Enquirer and soon Allen was being scolded by the daytime talk shows. His house was invaded by journalists, some posing as repairmen and others delivering flowers. On the football field Allen injured his knee and was forced to sit out three games. He roared back from injury and led the Chiefs to two straight victories at the end of the season, including a 132-yard performance against the Raiders.
As the 1995 season started, Allen had to adjust to a new role on the field. Allen platooned with Greg Hill, but the two reluctant running backs combined to become a formidable tandem. Despite the continuing saga of the Simpson criminal and civil trials, Allen focused on football. During the game against the Raiders, Allen gained 124 yards and became the first player to gain 10,000 yards rushing and 5,000 yards receiving. The Chiefs finished the season 13-3 and Allen gained 890 yards. During the wild card game the week before the Chiefs would begin their playoff campaign, Allen joined ABC in the broadcast booth analyzing games. It was during this time that the football player began to think about television as an option after his playing days were over. The following week the Chiefs lost their first play-off game to the underdog Indianapolis Colts, and the season was over. In 1996 the Chiefs were again favored to win the division and go to the AFC Championship, but the team finished 9-7 and did not make the play-offs. During a nationally televised game against the Detroit Lions, Allen broke the career rushing touchdown record of 110 with numbers 111 and 112. Allen finished his career as a football player after the 1997 season at the age of 38. He set career records in rushing touchdowns (123) and in career receptions for a running back (587). He signed a $1 million contract with CBS Sports to become part of its broadcast team for its professional football coverage. Allen also threw his hat into the publication ring co-writing Marcus: The Autobiography of Marcus Allen.
In his 16 seasons Allen amassed 12,243 yards and totaled 145 touchdowns, including one Super Bowl MVP and one regular season MVP Award. Furthermore, he achieved all this success buried so far down in Al Davis's doghouse that he averaged fewer than five carries a game for three seasons. But setting records was not the reason that he played football. Allen told the "Capitol-Journal's" Rick Dean at his retirement press conference: "The records I'm proud of, but it's the people I've worked with on a day-to-day basis who really made the game for me. The most important thing has always been the journey and the people you meet and gain respect for in the common struggle to achieve something."
Awards
Heisman Trophy and Consensus All-American, 1981; NFL Rookie of the Year, 1982; Super Bowl XVIII MVP, 1982; NFL MVP and Offensive Player of the Year, 1985; Chiefs MVP, 1993; Pro Bowl Selection, 1982-1987, 1993.
Further Reading
Books
- Allen, Marcus and Stowers, Carlton. Marcus: The Autobiography of Marcus Allen. St. Martin's Press, New York: 1997.
- Sport, October 1994, p. 40.
- Sports Illustrated, April 10, 1998, p. 22.
- USA Today, April 10, 1998.
- Kansas City Capitol-Journal Website at http://cjonline.com/stories/041298/spo--marcus.shtml
- ESPN Sportszone Website at http://espn.sportszone.com/nfl/profiles/bio/0174.html.
- Kansas City Chiefs Website at http://www.nfl.com/Chiefs/news/0409comments.html
— Michael J. Watkins
