Damon Allen

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Damon Allen (b. July 29, 1963 in San Diego, California) is the all-time Canadian Football League (CFL) passing leader with 69,273 passing yards in the CFL to date. He currently plays for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. The 2006 season marks his 22nd season in the CFL. His brother is NFL Hall of Famer Marcus Allen.

Contents

1 Early years
2 College years
3 CFL years
4 At home
5 External links

Early years

Damon Allen started playing football by the age of six for Valentica Park Pop Warner in San Diego. Damon played safety on Defense and helped bring his team to the championship game in the Mighty-Mites league only to lose.

In Jr. Peewee, Damon again made it to the championships and this time his team won. This was his first year in playing quarterback. Damon became a force to be reckoned with, leading his team to 2 undefeated seasons, and winning the Jr. Peewee for three years in a row.

In high school, Damon was the starting quarterback. He went on to a record of 22-2 for 2nd year Varsity as well as for 2nd year 1st team all-CIF. He would also lead his team to two 2A Division CIF Football Championships.

College years

Damon went on to play college football for California State University, Fullerton. There, he and his team went on to win two PCAA championships. He also broke a 26 year old NCAA record with three ints. over 300 attempts and breaking 7 school records. He was a 1st team PCAA QB and was the UPC All West Coast team QB with Randall Cunningham.

Damon would come in 16 overall in the voting for the 1984 Heisman Trophy. He also played in the Senior Bowl college all-star game (6 for 8, 50 yards, 1 TD, 3 carries for 20 yds).

Damon Allen however was not only a great football player, he was also a great baseball player. He helped his college team win the 1984 College Baseball National Champions, leading his team to a regular season record of 66-20. He was also drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 1984 Major League Baseball Draft. 1984 was the same year the Tigers won the World Series. However, Damon never did sign a major league baseball contract with the Tigers, but did sign a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1993 and reported to spring training in 1994, but decided to keep playing football.

CFL years

Damon Allen joined the CFL as a free-agent in 1985, signing with the Edmonton Eskimos and threw for 661 yards and three touchdowns in his rookie season. In the 1987 season, he got to play in the Grey Cup Championship game, replacing the injured starter Matt Dunigan and led the Eskimos to a Grey Cup victory, and his first Grey Cup win. He also earned the Grey Cup Offensive Player of the Game honours in the win.

In 1989, Damon would sign with the Ottawa Rough Riders. In 1991, he was named a Division All-Star for the first time in his CFL career...rushed for a career-high 1,036 yards and 8 touchdowns in 18 games...also passed for a career-high 4,275 yards on the year with 25 scores.

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

In 1993, his second time with the Eskimos, he helped the team to victory in the Grey Cup game, winning his second title and was named Grey Cup MVP in Edmonton's 33-23 win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He led the Esks to the 1994 western finals, only to lose to the B.C. Lions.

In 1995, Damon signed as a free-agent with the Memphis Mad Dogs, appearing in 15 games with the expansion team and threw for 3,211 yards and 11 touchdowns on 228 of 390 passing. He also rushed for 427 yards in his only season in the U.S. In 1996, he would join the B.C. Lions.

In 1999, Damon 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.

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

In 2001, Damon passed John Elway for 3rd place on professional football's all-time passing list with 54,420 yards. He also became the first quarterback in CFL history to rush for over 10,000 yards in his career.

In 2003, a 39 year old Allen was traded from the B.C. Lions to the Toronto Argonauts for a 2nd round draft pick (DE Nautyn McKay-Loescher) in the 2004 CFL College Draft and a 3rd round pick in the 2005 CFL College Draft on June 7 2005. Damon's Argonaut debut was a 20-18 season opening loss to Saskatchewan — the opener marked Allen's 300th regular game of his CFL career. In Week 7 he became only the third quarterback in professional football history to pass for 60,000 yards against his former club the B.C. Lions. In a week 17 loss to the Renegades, Allen completed 20 of 39 pass attempts for 203 yards, with 2 interceptions and 1 touchdown giving Allen 334 career touchdown passes surpassing Ron Lancaster for the most career touchdown passes in CFL history. He would lead the Argos to the East final that year.

In week 9 of the 2004 season vs Montreal, Damon exited game in 3rd quarter with a fractured left tibia, caused by Alouette lineman Teto Simpson and was added to IR from Weeks 10-16. There was talk going around that Damon, at the age of 41 would never come back from an injury like that, but he did. In week 17, he dressed as 3rd QB vs BC, Damon was listed on the depth chart behind Michael Bishop and Romaro Miller. In week 18, he dressed as the backup QB behind Michael Bishop and entered the game vs Calgary at the end of the 2nd Quarter, completed his first thirteen pass attempts, making him the second in Argonauts history (Mike Rae, 17 of 17 vs Montreal, August 12, 1975) to complete more than 12 passes consecutively in a game, finished 18 of 23 and his 82.6% completion percentage ranks fourth in Argonauts history for a single game.

Damon started week 19 vs Hamilton and completed 12 of 20 attempts for 144 yards, and also rushed three times for 3 yards and 1 touchdown in win. In week 20, he dressed as backup behind starter Michael Bishop and entered the game in the 1st quarter finishing 14 of 23 for 222 yards and 1 TD, left the game in the fourth quarter in favour of Michael Bishop and third string QB Romaro Miller. In week 20, Damon was 3rd string to get rested up for the playoffs which took place the next game.

In the 2004 Grey Cup Championship, Damon was named Grey Cup MVP for second time in his legendary career. He led the Argos to their 15th Grey Cup Championship in team history, and won his fourth championship. He finished 23 of 34 for 299 yards (LG 34) including 1 TD pass, rushed 5 times for 10 yards (LG 5) and 2 TDs.

Damon Allen has experienced continued success in the 2005 CFL season. On October 27, 2005, Damon reached the 5,000-yard passing plateau for the first time in his 21 year long CFL career by posting a 34-11 victory against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. His victory guaranteed Toronto a first place position in the Eastern Division 2005 CFL playoffs plus home field advantage. It also took place before 40,085 fans—the largest Argonaut crowd since 1992. However, the Argonauts were subsequently defeated 33-17 in the 2005 Eastern Division Finals by the Montreal Alouettes thereby thwarting their hopes of repeating their 2004 Grey Cup win.

In 2005 Allen won his first win of the leagues most 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 in 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. It is expected that Allen would be unable to play for 4-6 weeks.

At home

Damon and his wife, Desiree, have three daughters Amanda, Alyssa and Ateya.

External links

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