(1937-2003)

Alhambra High School and Los Angeles Rams star football player Duane Allen has died at the age of 65. Allen died of a heart attack on May 7 at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. He had suffered a stroke on April 11.

Allen was born Oct. 21, 1937 in the family home on South Eighth Street in Alhambra. His father, Thomas Allen, had already made history as one of the first two black aviators to make a transcontinental airplane flight -- on October 9, 1932 -- from Los Angeles to Long Island, New York. Allen was the flight mechanic, and James Herman Banning was the pilot. The plane was pieced together from junkyard parts.

Allen graduated from Alhambra High School in the winter of 1956, having achieved superstar distinction on the AHS football team. After high school, Allen became a junior college All-American at Santa Ana College. In 1960, in the ninth round of the NFL draft, the Rams selected the tall and exceptionally fast Allen. He frequently ended up in the end zone on his pass routes. Five of his seven receptions with the Rams were for touchdowns. Allen played on the Rams at the same time as football greats Rosie Greer, Merlin Olson, Lamar Lundy, and Deacon Jones--the "Fearsome Foursome."

Allen left the Rams after the 1964 season, playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers and, finally, the Chicago Bears. He played with Brian Piccolo, who was portrayed in the movie, "Brian's Song." After his football days, Allen went into coaching and voluntarily helped the football and track programs at Mark Keppel High School from the late 1960s through the early 1990s.

Allen was also a talented musician. He brightened up Main Street on many weekends when he teamed up with musician Dan Garcia as "The Kick Off Band" to play a variety of music. He also entertained as a duo with Mike Burke, a Mark Keppel High School coach. They called themselves "The Light and Dark of Soul."

"I was lucky to know him," Garcia said. "Duane did a lot of things for a lot of people, including working with the Special Olympics -- he was just like that. His whole family is like that. I also admired his will to survive. One time when we were performing, after he had lot his legs because of illness and was in a wheelchair, he told me that he didn't want to play anymore until he could stand. He did it. When he was ready, he walked on stage, performed and walked off!"

"Duane was always doing something," Garcia added. "He had a huge resume. He was in a lot of movies, including 'Ghostbusters II' and the Disney video, 'Eensy, Weensy, Spider' with Shelley Duvall and Little Richard. He was a very talented person."

Allen's music, his humanity and, of course, his great smile will be missed by countless people who have known him through the years, as well as the audiences who were introduced to him through his music.

Allen is survived by his wife of 39 years, Kazon, and a son, Duane Allen, Jr., a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy.

Funeral services were held at First Baptist Church in Alhambra.