BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY
Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is a former American football running back and football analyst for CBS. As a professional, Allen ran for 12,243 yards and caught 587 passes for 5,412 yards during his career for both the Los Angeles Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs from 1982 to 1997. He scored 145 touchdowns, including a then league record 123 rushing touchdowns, and was elected to six Pro Bowls over the course of his career. He was also a fairly good passer for a running back, completing 12 of 27 passes for 285 yards and six touchdowns, with only one interception. Allen was the first player ever to gain more than 10,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards during his career.
Allen is considered one of the greatest goal line and short-yard runners in National Football League (NFL) history.[1] He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. His younger brother,Damon Allen, played quarterback for 23 seasons in the Canadian Football League and was professional football's all-time leader in passing yards.
Allen is a member of the Laureus World Sports Academy.[2]
Allen is a Board Member for the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which is named after Ronnie Lott and is awarded annually to college football's Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year. High school and college
Allen played football at Abraham Lincoln High School in San Diego, California, where he played the quarterback and safety positions.
Allen played running back at the University of Southern California (USC) from 1978 to 1981. He was recruited as a defensive back, but head coach John Robinson switched him to tailback.[3] Allen spent his first season at USC as a backup to Heisman Trophy winning running back Charles White. In 1979, he was moved to fullback. Eventually, in 1980, Allen became the starter at tailback and rushed for 1,563 yards, the third-most in the nation that year (behind senior George Rogers of S. Carolina - 1,781 yards and freshman Herschel Walker of Georgia - 1,616). In 1981, Allen had one of the most spectacular seasons in NCAA history, rushing for 2,342 yards, becoming the first player in NCAA history to rush for over 2,000 yards in one season, passing the 2,000 yard mark in a win at Cal. He also gained a total of 2,683 offensive yards, led the nation in scoring, and won the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, and Walter Camp Award. He was also the Pac-10 Player of the Year. Allen shares theNCAA record for most 200-yard rushing games with Ricky Williams and Ron Dayne, each completing the feat twelve times.
Allen finished his four college seasons with 4,682 rushing yards, 5,232 total yards, and 46 touchdowns, while averaging 5.2 yards per carry.
USC has retired his jersey number (33), and coach Robinson has called Allen, "the greatest player I ever saw." On December 14, 2006, Allen hosted the USC Football Awards banquet at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.
Statistics[edit]
| Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YEAR | ATT | YDS | AVG | LNG | TD | NO. | YDS | AVG | LNG | TD |
| 1978 | 31 | 171 | 5.5 | 17 | 1 | — | — | — | — | — |
| 1979 | 105 | 606 | 5.8 | 38 | 8 | 20 | 273 | 13.7 | 34 | 0 |
| 1980 | 354 | 1,563 | 4.4 | 45 | 14 | 30 | 231 | 7.7 | 19 | 0 |
| 1981 | 403 | 2,342 | 5.8 | 74 | 22 | 29 | 217 | 7.5 | 50 | 1 |
| Totals | 893 | 4,682 | 5.2 | 74 | 45 | 79 | 721 | 9.1 | 50 | 1 |
NFL career
Allen was drafted with the 10th overall selection of the 1982 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Raiders.[3] In a recent ad on NFL Network, Allen recalls shortly before being drafted that the Raiders asked him his weight at the time(he answered 200 or 212) and then drafted him soon after. Though his rookie season was shortened by a league strike, Allen rushed for 697 yards and led the Raiders to the best record in the AFC at 8-1. He was voted the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.[3] The Raiders would lose to the New York Jets in the AFC Divisional Playoffs.
The next season, Allen broke the 1,000-yard mark for the first time, an accomplishment he would repeat the two following years.[3] During the 1985 season, he rushed for 1,759 yards and scored 11 touchdowns on 380 carries, leading the Raiders to a 12-4 record and the AFC West Division Championship. In addition, Allen was named the NFL MVP.[3]
Allen may be best remembered for his heroics in Super Bowl XVIII January 22, 1984 as he ran for 191 yards, caught two passes for 18 yards, and scored two touchdowns in the Raiders 38-9 victory over the Washington Redskins.[3] Included in his stats was a 74-yard touchdown run,[3] a feat that remained the longest run in Super Bowl history until Super Bowl XL whenWillie Parker of the Pittsburgh Steelers broke the record by a single yard. Allen's 191 rushing yards were also a Super Bowl record, which stood until Timmy Smith of the Redskinstopped it with 204 yards in Super Bowl XXII. Upon winning the game, Allen joined an elite group of players to win both the Heisman Trophy and Super Bowl MVP (Roger Staubach,Jim Plunkett, Desmond Howard). Moreover, Allen put together one of the greatest postseasons ever by a NFL running back. On January 1, 1984, Allen gained 121 yards for two touchdowns on just 13 carries against the Pittsburgh Steelers. One week later, Allen rushed 25 times for 154 yards and scored on a touchdown reception. In total, Allen rushed 58 times for 466 yards and four touchdowns during the playoffs. He also added 118 yards and one touchdown on 14 receptions.[5]
In future seasons with the Raiders, Allen formed a stormy relationship with owner Al Davis stemming from a contract dispute where Davis referred to Allen as a "cancer to the team."[6] He also missed most of the 1989 season with a knee injury. Allen was relegated to back-up duty in his final three seasons with the Raiders and, at one time, fell to fourth on the depth chart.[7] Allen's strained relationship with Davis reached an all-time low in December 1992. During halftime of the Raiders-Dolphins game on Monday Night Football, a taped interview between Al Michaels and Allen was broadcast, with Allen stating that Davis "told me he was going to get me." Allen further stated, "I think he's [Davis] tried to ruin the latter part of my career, tried to devalue me. He's trying to stop me from going to the Hall of Fame. They don't want me to play."[8]
Allen eventually left Los Angeles and joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993. Although he only rushed for 764 yards that year, he scored 12 touchdowns,[3] leading the AFC,[9] as he and Joe Montana led the Chiefs to the AFC Championship Game. Allen scored touchdowns in both of the Chiefs playoff games that year, and was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year. Allen went on to play for the Chiefs for four more seasons, leading the team in rushing every year but his last. Allen's main contribution to the Chiefs was his leadership. The Chiefs won more games than any other NFL team during his tenure in Kansas City. Allen made many contributions to charitable causes off the field in Kansas City, while also hosting his own talk show on Sunday mornings before Chiefs games.
Allen retired after the 1997 season.[3] In 1999, he was ranked 72nd on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. Allen was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
In 1999, Allen was also inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions, Breitbard Hall of Fame honoring San Diego's finest athletes both on and off the playing surface.[1]
In 2008, Allen joined as a spokesman for the sports website OPENSports.com, the brainchild of Mike Levy, founder and former CEO of CBS Sportsline.com. Allen wrote a blog and occasionally answered member questions for the company during this time.[10]
In 2011, Allen led the RioCan Wrecking Crew to a 2-1 record in the Strike out Cancer Baseball Tournament.
NFL Records:
- Consecutive seasons with multiple touchdowns: 16 - (tied with Irving Fryar)
- Consecutive seasons with a rushing touchdown: 16
- Consecutive seasons with multiple rushing touchdowns: 16
- Oldest player to score 10+ touchdowns in a season: 37 years old
Statistics
| Rushing | Receiving | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YEAR | TEAM | ATT | YDS | AVG | LNG | TD | NO. | YDS | AVG | LNG | TD |
| 1982 | RAI | 160 | 697 | 4.4 | 53 | 11 | 38 | 401 | 10.6 | 51 | 3 |
| 1983 | RAI | 266 | 1,014 | 3.8 | 74 | 9 | 68 | 590 | 8.7 | 36 | 2 |
| 1984 | RAI | 275 | 1,168 | 4.2 | 52 | 13 | 64 | 758 | 11.8 | 92 | 5 |
| 1985 | RAI | 380 | 1,759 | 4.6 | 61 | 11 | 67 | 555 | 8.3 | 44 | 3 |
| 1986 | RAI | 208 | 759 | 3.6 | 28 | 5 | 46 | 453 | 9.8 | 36 | 2 |
| 1987 | RAI | 200 | 754 | 3.8 | 44 | 5 | 51 | 410 | 8.0 | 39 | 0 |
| 1988 | RAI | 223 | 831 | 3.7 | 32 | 7 | 34 | 303 | 8.9 | 30 | 1 |
| 1989 | RAI | 69 | 293 | 4.2 | 15 | 2 | 20 | 191 | 9.6 | 26 | 0 |
| 1990 | RAI | 179 | 682 | 3.8 | 28 | 12 | 15 | 189 | 12.6 | 30 | 1 |
| 1991 | RAI | 63 | 287 | 4.6 | 26 | 2 | 15 | 131 | 8.7 | 25 | 0 |
| 1992 | RAI | 67 | 301 | 4.5 | 21 | 2 | 28 | 277 | 9.9 | 40 | 1 |
| 1993 | KAN | 206 | 764 | 3.7 | 39 | 12 | 34 | 238 | 7.0 | 18 | 3 |
| 1994 | KAN | 189 | 709 | 3.8 | 36 | 7 | 42 | 349 | 8.3 | 38 | 0 |
| 1995 | KAN | 207 | 890 | 4.3 | 38 | 5 | 27 | 210 | 7.8 | 20 | 0 |
| 1996 | KAN | 206 | 830 | 4.0 | 35 | 9 | 27 | 270 | 10.0 | 59 | 0 |
| 1997 | KAN | 124 | 505 | 4.1 | 30 | 11 | 11 | 86 | 7.8 | 18 | 0 |
| Totals | — | 3,022 | 12,243 | 4.1 | 61 | 123 | 587 | 5,411 | 9.2 | 92 | 21 |
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