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Damon Allen

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This article is about the football quarterback. For other uses, see Damon Allen (disambiguation).

Damon Allen
No. 9
Allen at an Argonauts game in 2019
Born: (1963-07-29) July 29, 1963 (age 61)
San Diego, California, U.S.
Career information
CFL statusAmerican
Position(s)QB
Height6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight180 lb (82 kg)
CollegeCal State Fullerton
High schoolLincoln (San Diego, California)
HandRight
Career history
As player
1985–1988Edmonton Eskimos
1989–1991Ottawa Rough Riders
1992Hamilton Tiger-Cats
1993–1994Edmonton Eskimos
1995Memphis Mad Dogs
1996–2002BC Lions
2003–2007Toronto Argonauts
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star2005
CFL East All-Star2005, 1991
CFL West All-Star1999
Awards1987 Grey Cup MVP (Offence)
1993 Grey Cup MVP
1993 Eddie James Memorial Trophy
2004 Grey Cup MVP
2005 CFL MOP
Career stats
Passing Comp5,158
Passing Att9,138
Passing Yards72,381
Passing TDs394
  • Playing stats at CFL.ca (archive)

Damon L. Allen (born July 29, 1963) is an American former professional football quarterback. He played 23 years in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is currently fourth in all-time professional football passing yards and second in all-time CFL passing yards after he was surpassed for first place by the Montréal Alouettes' Anthony Calvillo on October 10, 2011.[1] Allen retired as professional football's all-time leading passer with 72,381 passing yards after he surpassed Warren Moon's total of 70,553 yards (in both the CFL and NFL combined) on September 4, 2006, in the annual Labour Day Classic.[2][3] He also retired in third place in all-time CFL rushing yards with 11,920 yards, behind Mike Pringle and George Reed. The 2007 season marked Allen's twenty-third season in the CFL and he officially announced his retirement on May 28, 2008, at age 44. Allen is the younger brother of Pro Football Hall of Famer Marcus Allen.

Allen has been mentioned as one of the greatest CFL quarterbacks of all time after winning four Grey Cups with three different teams. He also was a three time Grey Cup MVP. In 2005, he was the CFL Most Outstanding Player at 42 years old, becoming the second oldest MVP of any North American sports franchise (oldest is Gordie Howe of the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association, MVP at age 46 in 1974). He was a formidable passer and rusher, as he retired only 323 rushing yards behind his brother Marcus. In 2012, he was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

In May 2010, Allen launched the Damon Allen Quarterback Academy, in which he personally teaches the skills and strategies of quarterbacking to students of all ages and skill levels.[4]

In 2018, Allen was awarded the Order of Sport, marking his induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.[5]

Early life

[edit]

Allen started playing football by the age of six for Valencia Park's Pop Warner in San Diego. Allen played safety on defense. In the Junior Peewee league, in his first year as a quarterback, Allen's team won the championships. This was followed by two undefeated seasons, and winning the Junior Peewee league title for three consecutive seasons.

High school

[edit]

In high school, Allen was a fine two sport athlete. In football he was the starting quarterback at Lincoln High School. He had a 22–2 record as starting quarterback at Lincoln High. Allen was a first team all-CIF player and Tribune Athlete of the Year. He led his team to consecutive 2A Division CIF Football Championships. In baseball, Allen was a pitcher with a record of 14–2, and his Lincoln High baseball team was rated #1 in San Diego County with a record of 24–4. He was a First team All-CIF Utility Man which also made him Tribune Athlete of the Year in his senior year.

College career

[edit]

Damon went on to play college football for California State University, Fullerton. There, Allen led the Titans to two Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA) championships. He also broke a 26-year-old NCAA record throwing only three passes that were intercepted, in over 300 attempts[6] and broke seven school records. He was a first team PCAA quarterback, and was named the UPI All West Coast team quarterback along with UNLV's Randall Cunningham.

Allen was sixteenth in overall voting for the 1984 Heisman Trophy. He also played in the Senior Bowl college All-Star game (completing 6 for 8 passes for 50 yards, 1 touchdown, and rushing for 20 yards on 3 carries).

Allen was not only an outstanding football player, he was also a superior baseball player. He helped his Titans' baseball team win the 1984 College World Series, leading his team to a regular season record of 66-20 as a pitcher. He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 1984 Major League Baseball Draft in the seventh round,[7] the same year the Tigers won the Major League Baseball World Series. Allen never signed a professional, major league baseball contract with the Tigers, but did sign one with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1993. Allen reported to the Pirates' spring training camp in 1994, but ultimately left their camp and decided to play in the Canadian Football League.

College career statistics

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NCAA Collegiate Career statistics
Cal State Fullerton Titans
Season Passing Rushing
Comp Att Yards TD Int Att Yards TD
1981 1 9 17 0 0 11 8 0
1982 40 90 435 3 5 34 81 0
1983 103 200 1297 4 3 118 126 5
1984 178 330 2469 20 3 106 220 5
NCAA Career Totals 322 629 4218 27 11 269 435 10

Professional career

[edit]

Edmonton Eskimos

[edit]

Allen joined the CFL as a free-agent in 1985, signed by the Edmonton Eskimos, and threw for 661 yards and three touchdowns in his rookie season as a back-up to Matt Dunigan. In the 1987 season, Allen played in the Grey Cup championship game, replacing the injured starter Dunigan, and led the Eskimos to a Grey Cup victory, defeating the Toronto Argonauts 38–36, at Vancouver's BC Place Stadium. His first Grey Cup win, Allen earned Grey Cup Most Valuable Player honours in the championship.

Damon Allen.
Damon Allen as a Rider.

Ottawa Rough Riders

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In 1989, Allen signed with the Ottawa Rough Riders. In 1991, Allen was named an Eastern Division All-Star for the first time in his CFL career. During the 1991 season, Allen rushed for a career-high 1,036 yards and 8 touchdowns in 18 games, and passed for a then career-high 4,275 yards with 24 touchdowns.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

[edit]

In 1992, Allen signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In 18 games, Allen threw for 3,858 and 19 touchdowns, and rushed for 850 yards and 7 touchdowns, in his only season in "Steeltown." After the 1992 season, Allen was traded to the Edmonton Eskimos.

Edmonton Eskimos

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In 1993, in his second time around with Edmonton, Allen helped the Eskimos to victory in the Grey Cup game, winning his second title, and was named Grey Cup Most Valuable Player in a 33–23 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. In 1994, Allen led the Esks to the Western Division Semi-Finals, only to lose to the BC Lions.

Memphis Mad Dogs

[edit]

In 1995, Allen signed as a free-agent with the Memphis Mad Dogs. He appeared in 15 games with the CFL expansion team, and threw for 3,211 yards and 11 touchdowns on 228 of 390 passing. Allen also rushed for 427 yards in his only professional season in the United States.

BC Lions

[edit]

In 1996, Allen joined the BC Lions.

In 1999, Allen was voted to the CFL's West Division All-Star team. He threw for 4,219 yards on 315 of 521 passing with 22 touchdowns, ran the ball 136 times for 785 yards and 8 touchdowns, and threw for more than 300 yards on five occasions.

Damon Allen and teammate Lui Passaglia with the Grey Cup in January 2001

In 2000, Allen became the CFL's all-time leading passer on October 28 against Hamilton, throwing for 345 yards to surpass Ron Lancaster's previous record of 50,535 yards. Allen completed 324 of 525 passes (61.7%) to lead the CFL with a career-high 4,840 passing yards. Allen was nominated as the Lions' Most Outstanding Player at the CFL Player Awards. Allen captured his first Grey Cup with the Lions (third of his career) throwing for 234 yards in a win over the Montreal Alouettes.

Toronto Argonauts

[edit]

In 2003, after the acquisition of Dave Dickenson as their new quarterback, the 39-year-old Allen was traded from the BC Lions to the Toronto Argonauts for a second-round draft pick in the 2004 CFL Draft, and a third-round pick in the 2005 CFL Draft. Allen's Argonaut re-debut was a 20–18 season- opening loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders that also marked Allen's 300th regular season game of his CFL career. In Week 7, Allen became only the third quarterback in professional football history to pass for 60,000 yards against his former club, the BC Lions. In a Week 17 loss to the Ottawa Renegades, Allen completed 20 of 39 pass attempts for 203 yards, with 2 interceptions and 1 touchdown, giving Allen 334 career touchdown passes, and surpassing Ron Lancaster for the most career touchdown passes in CFL history. Allen would lead the Argos to the Eastern Division Final that year as well.

In Week 9 of the 2004 season versus Montreal, Allen exited the game in the third quarter with a fractured left tibia, and spent Weeks 10–16 on the injured reserve roster. There was considerable concern that Allen, at 41 years of age, would never come back from such a severe injury, but he did. In Week 17, Allen dressed as the third quarterback (behind Michael Bishop and Romaro Miller) for a game against the BC Lions. In Week 18, Allen dressed as the backup quarterback behind Michael Bishop and entered the game versus the Calgary Stampeders at the end of the second quarter. Allen completed his first thirteen pass attempts, making him the second quarterback in Argonaut history (Mike Rae, 17 of 17 versus Montreal, August 12, 1975) to complete more than 12 passes consecutively in a game. Allen finished the game with 18 of 23 pass completions, and his 82.6% completion percentage ranks fourth in Argo history for a single game.

In the 2004 Grey Cup Championship against the BC Lions, Allen was named Grey Cup Most Valuable Player for third time in his legendary career. Allen led the Argos to their fifteenth Grey Cup Championship and won his fourth championship. Allen finished the game with 23 of 34 pass completions for 299 yards (longest gain, 34 yards) and 1 touchdown pass, and rushed 5 times for 10 yards (longest gain, 5 yards) and 2 rushing touchdowns.

Allen continued his assault on the record books during the 2005 CFL season. On October 27, 2005, Damon reached the 5,000-yard passing plateau for the first time in his 21-year CFL career by posting a 34–11 victory against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The win guaranteed Toronto a first-place finish in the CFL East plus home field advantage in the playoffs. The game took place before 40,085 fans; the largest crowd for a CFL game in Toronto since 1992. However, the Argonauts were defeated 33–17 in the 2005 East Final by the Montreal Alouettes, thereby thwarting their hopes of repeating their 2004 Grey Cup win.

In 2005, Allen won his first CFL's Outstanding Player Award. In that year, he also hosted the inaugural "Damon Allen Quarterback Challenge" which featured top CFL quarterbacks participating in various skill competitions. In the Quarterback Challenge's second year, Allen won the event.

In 2006, Allen started the opening home game of the season against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and broke the middle finger on his right hand on Toronto's third play. Allen was injured trying to break his fall after taking a late hit from Hamilton safety Wayne Shaw, who was penalized on the play. Allen missed nearly a month and a half of action with a broken finger, returning on July 29 vs. the BC Lions.

A banner hangs in the Rogers Centre to commemorate Allen breaking the All-Time Pro-Football Passing Record in 2006.

On September 4, 2006, at the Labour Day Classic against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Allen broke Warren Moon's record (70,553 yards) to become professional football's all-time passing leader. The record-setting completion, a 29-yard shovel pass to wide receiver Arland Bruce III, took place at 5:02 of the third quarter. The game was suspended briefly for a presentation by CFL Commissioner Tom Wright. Allen's triumphant pose with the record-breaking football was captured by a photographer and later released by the Argos as a commemorative poster on their website.

In November 2006, Allen was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players (#14) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network The Sports Network/TSN.

On January 18, 2007, Allen underwent successful surgery to repair the middle finger of his (right) throwing hand and was back in the gym training, in less than 24 hours.

On February 28, 2007, Allen re-signed a contract with the Argonauts for one year plus an option.

Allen started the 2007 season as the Argos starting quarterback beating out Michael Bishop and former NFL starter Mike McMahon. However, he was replaced in the third quarter of the first game by Bishop despite having gone 14–18, 130 yards and a touchdown. Allen was then bumped down to third on the depth chart. However, after Bishop went down with a wrist injury and McMahon failed to impress, Allen stepped into the starting role once again. However, in his first game back as starter he injured his toe. Allen was placed on the nine-game injured list and Rocky Butler took over as the Argos starting quarterback

Allen announced that his retirement as a player on May 28, 2008,[8][9][10][11][12] but will stay with the Argos as a special advisor to CEO Pinball Clemons.[13]

Post-retirement

[edit]

In 2018, Allen was awarded the Order of Sport, marking his induction into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.[5]

Career statistics

[edit]
  Passing   Rushing
Year Team GP GS Att Comp Pct Yards TD Int Rating Att Yards Avg Long TD Fumb
1985 EDM 16 2 98 48 49.0 661 3 3 68.5 36 190 5.3 18 5 3
1986 EDM 18 1 87 49 56.3 878 8 3 107.4 31 245 7.9 39 6 2
1987 EDM 18 6 287 150 52.3 2,670 17 13 85.3 66 562 8.5 40 6 8
1988 EDM 10 7 218 94 43.1 1,309 4 12 46.2 33 130 3.9 13 1 5
1989 OTT 13 12 434 209 48.2 3,093 17 16 69.6 75 532 7.1 51 1 7
1990 OTT 17 17 528 276 52.3 3,883 34 23 79.6 124 776 6.3 41 7 9
1991 OTT 18 18 546 282 51.6 4,275 24 31 68.7 129 1,036 8.0 42 8 6
1992 HAM 18 18 523 266 50.9 3,858 19 14 76.2 111 850 7.7 37 7 18
1993 EDM 18 16 400 214 53.5 3,394 25 10 92.4 120 920 7.7 43 6 8
1994 EDM 18 17 493 254 51.5 3,554 19 15 75.2 120 707 5.9 43 7 11
1995 MEM 15 14 390 228 58.5 3,211 11 13 80.6 63 427 6.8 25 0 5
1996 BC 14 13 368 219 59.5 2,772 13 10 83.5 52 400 7.7 31 2 7
1997 BC 18 18 583 378 64.8 4,653 21 11 93.5 111 837 7.5 28 8 9
1998 BC 18 18 479 282 58.9 3,519 16 16 79.0 115 782 6.8 29 2 5
1999 BC 18 18 521 315 60.5 4,219 22 13 89.9 136 785 5.8 30 8 13
2000 BC 18 18 525 324 61.7 4,840 24 11 98.4 58 284 4.9 34 2 7
2001 BC 16 16 471 251 53.3 3,631 18 14 79.0 86 580 6.7 45 2 10
2002 BC 18 18 474 268 56.5 3,987 22 10 90.9 70 479 6.8 22 4 7
2003 TOR 16 15 450 267 59.3 3,395 17 10 86.3 76 507 6.7 26 4 9
2004 TOR 11 9 312 189 60.6 2,438 12 4 92.6 40 212 5.3 32 3 0
2005 TOR 17 17 549 352 64.1 5,082 33 15 102.7 85 467 5.5 26 4 9
2006 TOR 18 14 335 198 59.1 2,567 12 11 81.5 25 197 7.9 22 0 1
2007 TOR 9 2 67 45 67.2 492 3 0 103.6 4 15 3.8 6 0 2
CFL totals 370 304 9,138 5,158 56.4 72,381 394 278 83.8 1,766 11,920 6.7 51 93 161

Personal life

[edit]

Damon has three daughters and a son. They live in Oakville, Ontario.[14] Damon is employed as special assistant to the GM of the Toronto Argonauts.

References

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  1. ^ "Calvillo becomes CFL's all-time leading passer | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on January 5, 2015. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  2. ^ "CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on January 5, 2015. Retrieved September 5, 2006.
  3. ^ "Argos' Allen is football's top passer". CBC News. September 4, 2006.
  4. ^ Damon Allen Quarterback Academy
  5. ^ a b "2018 Induction Celebrations". Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on April 29, 2018. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  6. ^ Weird Facts about Canadian Football, p.139, Overtime Books, First Printing 2009, ISBN 978-1-897277-26-3
  7. ^ "7th Round of the 1984 MLB June Amateur Draft | Baseball-Reference.com". Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2008.
  8. ^ "CFL legend Damon Allen announces retirement". Toronto Argonauts Football Club. May 28, 2008. Archived from the original on May 30, 2008. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  9. ^ "Veteran CFL quarterback Damon Allen announces his retirement". Canadian Press. May 28, 2008. Archived from the original on July 8, 2012. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  10. ^ Goldstein, Yoni (May 28, 2008). "Yoni Goldstein on Damon Allen's amazing career". National Post. Retrieved May 28, 2008.[permanent dead link‍]
  11. ^ Naylor, David (May 28, 2008). "Allen decides to call it quits". Toronto: Globe and Mail. Retrieved May 28, 2008.
  12. ^ Longley, Rob (May 28, 2008). "Allen to quietly walk away from Argos". London Free Press. Retrieved May 28, 2008. [dead link‍]
  13. ^ Koshan, Terry (May 29, 2008). "Allen calls it a career". Toronto Sun. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved May 29, 2008.
  14. ^ Ormsby, Mary (June 16, 2007). "Damon Allen's other team comes first". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on December 9, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2010.
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