Allen at last gets call from Hall

By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Staff Columnist

When Hula Bowl officials called in 1989 and asked 72-year-old George Allen to coach in their game, he was disappointed to find they only sought him as an assistant coach.

"I guess they wanted someone with a little more experience," joked the man who was the oldest active coach at the time.

So you can imagine, were he still alive, what Allen might have said when, in this his 24th year of eligibility, the Pro Football Hall of Fame finally got around to selecting him.

For patience was never the biggest virtue of the coach whose "The Future is Now" philosophy was key in turning two sad-sack franchises, the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins, into winners.

Yet, you suspect Allen, who died a month before his Hula Bowl date, would have been cheered having his first appearance as a Hall of Famer here today. One reason is that Hawai'i was a second home of sorts where he was among friends and frequently held clinics. And, he would have smiled at how the New England Patriots, taking a page out of his manual and building with astute veteran acquisitions, had a Super Bowl-winning season.

"I think he would have enjoyed all of this," said Bruce Allen, Oakland Raiders' special assistant, who will stand in for his father today when the new class of inductees is introduced at halftime. "Of course, he would have been for the Raiders this year, and I'm positive he thought that (play against the Patriots in the playoffs) was a fumble."

George was an innovator decades ahead of his time even as he posted a record — 116-47-5 — that was the third best all-time among coaches with 100 or more victories and came without a losing year in 12 NFL seasons.

As the Bears' defensive coordinator in the 1960s, he pioneered the concept of the "nickel" back. As head coach of the Redskins in the 1970s, he was the first to place a premium on special teams, dedicating a position on his staff to coach it.

However, he is best remembered not only for making a winner of a Ram team that had suffered eight consecutive losing seasons before his arrival and pointing a Redskin franchise in the right direction that hadn't experienced a postseason in the quarter-century before he took over, but for how he did it.

George Allen's success was built around an "Over-the-Hill-Gang" collection of veterans for whom he gladly swapped wholesale draft picks. Once, even trading a draft pick he didn't have.

Said Bruce: "I think he would have loved what you can do with free agency today — also because he wouldn't have had to worry about (trading) draft picks."