- Pokey Allen
College coach infobox
Name =
Caption =
DateOfBirth = birth date|1943|01|23
Birthplace =flagicon|USASuperior, Montana
DateOfDeath = death date and age|1996|12|30|1943|01|23
Deathplace =Missoula, Montana
Sport = Football
College = Boise State
Title =Head Coach
CurrentRecord =
OverallRecord = 86-41-2
BowlRecord =
Awards =
Championships =
CFbDWID = 28
Player = Y
Years = 1961-1964
Team = Utah
Position =quarterback /cornerback
Coach = Y
CoachYears = 1968-1972
1973-1976
1977-1982
1983-1984
1985
1986-1992
1993-1996
CoachTeams = Simon Fraser University (assistant coach)
Simon Fraser University (co-coach)
University of Montana, Eastern Washington University, University of California, Berkeley (assistant coach)
Los Angeles Express (USFL) (assistant coach)
Portland Breakers (USFL) (assistant coach)
Portland State (head coach)
Boise State (head coach)
FootballHOF =Ernest Duncan "Pokey" Allen Jr. (
January 23 ,1943 –December 30 ,1996 ) was a football player and coach.Playing career
Allen played collegiately at
quarterback andcornerback at Utah, where he led the team to a 32-6 victory over West Virginia in the 1964Liberty Bowl and was named the game'smost valuable player .cite news|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9502EFDC1030F932A05751C1A960958260 |work=New York Times|title=Pokey Allen, 53, Football Coach|date=December 31, 1996 (subscription required)|accessdate=2008-04-10] cite news|url=http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650216411,00.html|last=Sorenson|first=Mike|date=December 20, 2006|title=Atlantic City contest quietly became historically significant|accessdate=2007-05-15|work=Deseret Morning News] Professionally, Allen played three seasons with theBritish Columbia Lions of theCanadian Football League .cite web|url=http://www.bclions.com/index.php?module=page&id=3057|title=BC Lions All-Time Roster|accessdate=2007-05-15|publisher=BC Lions]Early coaching career
Allen began his coaching career in 1968 as an assistant coach with
Simon Fraser University inVancouver, British Columbia .cite news|title=Pokey Allen 1943-1996: A short life lived to its fullest|last=Wheeler|first=Ken|date=December 30, 1996|work=The Oregonian] Five years later, he was named co-coach of the team. In 1977, Allen became the assistant coach at Montana, followed by other assistant coaching positions withEastern Washington University and Cal.In 1983, Allen signed on as an assistant coach for the
Los Angeles Express of theUnited States Football League . Two years later, he came toPortland, Oregon as defensive coordinator for thePortland Breakers .Portland State
In 1986, as the USFL folded, Allen took the head coaching job at Portland State. Allen coached the Vikings to its first football playoffs, including back-to-back appearances in the
NCAA Division II national football championship in 1987 and 1988, though the team lost both games. He was named coach of the year in the Western Football Conference five times.cite web|url=http://www.oregonsportshall.com/inductee/inductee98/allen.htm|title=Pokey Allen|publisher=Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and Museum|accessdate=2007-05-15]Allen was as much noted for his personality as his coaching. He took part in a humorous series of television commercials to sell tickets for Portland State games, with stunts such as dancing the
Hokey Pokey , betting a month's salary on attendance at the game, allowing fans to vote on whether to pick heads or tails at the coin toss, and most famously, a series of commercials in which Allen promised to have a meteor, an elephant, or himself (shot out of a cannon) land in the backyard of anyone not buying Portland State season tickets.cite news|title=The same old Pokey|work=The Oregonian|date=December 6, 1991|first=Ken|last=Goe] cite news|title=It's just about kickoff time for PSU stunts|work=The Oregonian|date=August 25, 1990|first=Terry|last=Frei]Boise State
In 1992, Allen's Vikings defeated the Boise State Broncos 52-26. When Boise State went on to lose their final four games that season, coach
Skip Hall was fired and Allen and his entire coaching staff were hired away from Portland State.cite web|url=http://boisestate.scout.com/2/446944.html|title=A Brief Look: Portland State Rivalry|accessdate=2007-05-15|date=October 3, 2005|work=Scout.com]In his second year at Boise State, he coached the Broncos into the NCAA Division I-AA national football championship, but the team lost to Youngstown State 24-14.
Allen kept his reputation for publicity stunts: during the run to the 1994 championship game, Allen challenged local supporters, promising to ride a horse in downtown Boise if
Bronco Stadium were sold out. The stadium was sold out, and Allen kept his promise.cite news|work=The Bend Bulletin|date=May 6, 2007|title=Oh Boise!|last=Anderson|first=John Gottberg|url=http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070506/TRAVEL/705060306/1075/TRAVEL&nav_category=TRAVEL
accessdate=2007-05-15]Head Coaching Record
CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1986
name =Portland State
overall = 6-5-0conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship =CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1987
name =Portland State
overall = 11-2-1conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship = conferenceCFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1988
name =Portland State
overall = 11-3-1conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship = conferenceCFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1989
name =Portland State
overall = 9-4-0
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship = conferenceCFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1990
name =Portland State
overall = 6-5-0conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship =CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1991
name =Portland State
overall = 11-3-0conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship = conferenceCFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1992
name =Portland State
overall = 9-4-0conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship = conferenceCFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1993
name = Boise State
overall = 3-8-0
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship =CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1994
name = Boise State
overall = 13-2-0
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship = conferenceCFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1995
name = Boise State
overall = 7-4-0
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 =
championship =CFB Yearly Record Entry
year = 1996
name = Boise State
overall = 2-10-0
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
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ranking =
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championship =Cancer and legacy
Shortly after the 1994 championship game, Allen was diagnosed with
rhabdomyosarcoma , a rare form of muscle cancer. He returned to coach the Broncos' 1995 season, but after a recurrence of cancer a year later, took a leave of absence until the final two games of the 1996 season. He resigned at the end of the 1996 season, and died at the age of 53, three weeks after coaching his last game.Boise State's come-from-behind, trick play-laden victory in the
2007 Fiesta Bowl , which brought even more national attention to the program that Allen helped build, came 10 years to the day after Allen's burial.Allen was inducted into the
Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1998.References
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