Grady Lynn Allen (January 1, 1946 – December 4, 2012) was a professional

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 ...

player who played

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

in 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) for five seasons for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

Biography

Allen was born in

San Augustine, Texas San Augustine is the county seat of San Augustine County in East Texas, United States. Its population was at the 2020 census. History The first European settlement in the area began in 1717 with the establishment of Mission Nuestra Señora ...

on January 1, 1946. He played defensive end for

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

from 1965 to 1967. During his senior year he was a team captain, earned all

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

honors, and helped A&M to its first Cotton Bowl appearance in 27 years. They upset Alabama 20–16, and Allen was given the annual Aggie Heart award by the team, Not chosen in the NFL draft, Allen played as a reserve linebacker in 59 games for the Atlanta Falcons over 5 seasons from 1968 until 1972, recording 2 interceptions and 3 fumble recoveries. Allen played in all 14 games each season, except for 1971, where an injury limited him to 3 games. Allen was inducted into the Texas A&M Hall of Fame in 1995 and served as president of the Texas A&M Lettermen's Association in 2006. Allen died of cardiac arrest on December 4, 2012. His son

Dennis Dennis or Denis is a first or last name from the Greco-Roman name Dionysius, via one of the Christian saints named Dionysius. The name came from Dionysus, the Greek god of ecstatic states, particularly those produced by wine, which is some ...

served as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team based in Oakland, California, from its founding in 1960 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019 before Oakland Raiders relocation to Las Vegas, relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan ...

from 2012 until 2014 and the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. Since 1975, the team ...

from 2022 to 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Grady 1946 births 2012 deaths People from San Augustine, Texas Players of American football from Texas American football linebackers Texas A&M Aggies football players Atlanta Falcons players