Egypt Tyrone Allen (born July 28, 1964) is a former

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...

who played one season for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL).

Early life

Allen grew up in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

and graduated from

South Oak Cliff High School South Oak Cliff High School (colloquially referred to as SOC, pronounced "sock") is a public secondary school located in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas, United States. South Oak Cliff High School enrolls students in grades 9- 12 and is a pa ...

, where he starred as a defensive back on their football team. Heavily recruited by colleges to play football, Allen matriculated at

Texas Christian University Texas Christian University (TCU) is a private university, private research university in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It was established in 1873 by brothers Addison Clark, Addison and Randolph Clark as the AddRan Male & Female College. It i ...

in 1982, where he played three seasons as a defensive back.

Controversy

In September of his senior year, Allen was one of 7 TCU players who publicly revealed that they had received cash in exchange for signing to play football with

TCU TCU may stand for: Education * Tanzania Commission for Universities, regulatory body for Universities in Tanzania * Texas Christian University, a private university in Fort Worth, Texas ** TCU Horned Frogs, the athletic programs of the school * Tok ...

. As soon as the payments were made public in September 1985, Allen and the other players were made ineligible to play (as per NCAA rules) and were removed from the team, though their scholarships were guaranteed through 1987. Allen and two other players sued the University in 1985, indicating that they had thought the payments were sanctioned by the University since one of the involved alumni, Richard Lowe, was a member of the TCU Board of Trustees, as well as a former TCU football player. Payments were also commonplace for blue chip athletes like Allen; Lowe later asserted that 29 TCU players were paid during the tenure of the TCU coach F.A. Dry who had recruited Allen. Allen never again played a complete football season. In the context of the NCAA suspension, Allen declared for the NFL draft but was not drafted.

Professional career

Allen was signed in the middle of the 1987 season by the

as a replacement player. While most replacement players were released after the

1987 NFL strike The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) is the labor union representing National Football League (NFL) players. The NFLPA, which has headquarters in Washington, D.C., is led by executive director Lloyd Howell Jr. and president J ...

ended, Allen stayed. He played in a total of 6 games but was cut the following preseason.

Early life

Controversy

Professional career

References

Further reading