1977: Death Threats for Marcus Allen

The messages were not the garden variety “good luck this week,” or “see you at the game.”

“I got several phone calls threatening my life,” Marcus Allen told writer Steve Brand.  “The callers said I better not be at the game.  They didn’t say what they’d do.  They just said not to be there.  It was obvious what they meant.”

“Some people called my house and told me not to come to the game or I would get hurt,” Allen related to Jerry (Sigmund) Froide of the Evening Tribune. “It upset my mother a lot, but I didn’t really take them seriously.  I just tried to put it out of my mind.”

The attempts at intimidation probably were nothing more than high jinks by rival school students (Patrick Henry, that week’s opponent?), safe in their cowardly anonymity.

Whatever the words, they represented the ultimate compliment to Allen.

The 6-foot, 2-inch, 190-pound senior was a once-in-a-lifetime player,  who ate his Wheaties every morning and performed weekly feats of derring do for the Lincoln Hornets.

The undermanned but talented Hive went as far as quarterback Allen’s running and passing and free safety Allen’s pass interceptions and ground shaking  hits would take them.

THE SEASON

WEEK 1

Allen combined with Fred Montgomery on a 34-yard pass play for the first touchdown in a 12-0 victory over Morse, which was shut down by a defense led by Allen and linemen Itai Sataua and David Allison.

Morse had not been blanked in 52 games, dating to the 1971 season.

The Tigers actually scored in the second quarter when quarterback Keith Magee hooked up with track star Tony Banks on a 74-yard touchdown pass play, but Banks waved the ball crossing the goal line and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The penalty nullified the touchdown as game officials were trying to crack down on hot dogging and taunting.

WEEK 2

Allen intercepted a pass and crisscrossed 82 yards for a touchdown that was called back by a penalty.  Lincoln was fined 205 yards and Point Loma 40.

Allen completed 3 of 16 passes for 29 yards with three interceptions.  Lincoln turned the ball over 4 times, Point Loma 6.  Final score, 0-0.

Fifteen minutes after the game, as Lincoln’s buses were leaving the Hoover stadium, the Hornets’ players were silent. Point Loma’s were cheering loudly, rejoicing in a moral victory.

WEEK 3

A 24-0 victory over Mission Bay was punctuated by Allen’s 20-yard touchdown run and 141 yards passing, including an eight-yard touchdown strike to John Green.

WEEK 4                                                                                                                     

Allen and the Hornets were warming to their task.

A 34-point second half put away La Jolla, 48-0.  Allen completed 7 of 14 passes for 160 yards, gained 72 yards in nine carries, and scored on a three-yard run.

When asked about the Hornets climb to No. 6 in the newspapers’ top 10, Lincoln coach Vic Player said, “It’s not so high that we get a fat head like last year, yet we know we’re playing quality football.”

WEEK 5

Lincoln’s fifth consecutive shutout to start the season tied a County record, set by Hoover in 1934 and tied by Ramona, which played a schedule that included junior varsity games, in 1954.

The 28-0 victory over University came after a scoreless first half.

“The coaches kind of got on my case,” Allen told Steve Brand.  “In the second half I decided when I dropped back I’d either pass the ball or run right away.  No hesitation.”

Allen, 2 for 8 in the first two quarters, was 3 for 4 in the second and had touchdown passing plays of 14 yards to Anthony Kelly and 67 to Pat Abernathy.

“I’m more happy with the zero than with the twenty-eight,” said Player.

WEEK 6 

Lincoln set a record with a sixth consecutive shutout and punished St. Augustine, 61-0.

The Hornets, who also dissed Player’s alma mater, 66-0, in 1975 and 55-0 in 1976, had 548 yards total offense, 372 on the ground, 176 in the air.

Allen scored on a two-yard run and passed for touchdowns of 47 yards to Dean Alexander and 48 yards to John Green.

WEEK 7

Allen rushed for 150 yards in 11 carries, raced to touchdowns of 65 and 26 yards, and completed 7 of 9 passes for 169 yards and three touchdowns in a 48-6 win over Serra.

The Hornets had five touchdowns called back because of penalties.

WEEK 8

The Homecoming  game with Hoover was dedicated to the memory of  Belinda Robinson, a 17-year-old Lincoln student and former cheerleader whose body was found days before in a vacant field near the school .

Allen, Lamar Parks, and Terry Harvey received most of the credit for the Hornets’ defensive play in the 34-6 victory.  Hoover had minus nine yards rushing and 59 yards passing.

Allen spread the wealth, directing a 347-yard ground attack led by David Green’s 145 yards in 11 carries and Pat Abernathy’s 102 in 11.   Allen passed for touchdowns to Anthony Kelly and Dean Alexander.

WEEK 9

A 35-0 shutout of Mira Mesa closed out the first undefeated season in the school’s 24-season history.  The Hornets were 8-0-1 with a 7-0 mark in the Western League.  Allen returned an intercepted pass 82 yards for a touchdown,  scored on a 12-yard run, and passed for one touchdown.

PLAYOFFS, FIRST ROUND

This was the week in which Allen mentioned the telephone calls.  The Hornets survived their most difficult test to date.

Henry took a 3-0 lead on Dean Baughan’s 40-yard field with 45 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Patriots tenaciously clung to their lead, but Allen, who had 87 yards in 16 carries, drove Lincoln 84 yards in 14 plays in the fourth quarter, twice scrambling for first downs, and passing for 48 yards and running for 36.

Expecting Allen to try to take it in from the three-yard line, Henry bunched at the line of scrimmage.  Allen lobbed a soft pass over the defenders to Anthony Kelly with 3:09 left in the game to finally get the Hornets home free, 6-3.

QUARTERFINALS

The San Diego Section board of managers came under fire from media, coaches, and fans for a playoff format the bosses established in 1976. The first-round games essentially were intraleague contests.

Lincoln played city rival and No. 2 seed Patrick Henry in the first round and the Section’s other playoff teams found themselves playing against teams from their own leagues.

Now Lincoln was matched in a quarterfinals game against top seed Granite Hills. The match was of two teams with a combined 19-0-1 record, ridiculously paired in the second round.

After covering Eagles fumbles at their 4- and 17-yard lines, the Hornets prevailed, 19-12, before a capacity crowd of 5,000 at Mesa College.

Allen passed 37 yards to Anthony Kelly for a clinching touchdown with 6:11 left in the fourth quarter and scored on a 13-yard run and ran 47 yards for a touchdown with an intercepted pass.

Granite Hills made it difficult for Allen, who completed only 5 passes in 15 attempts, with 4 interceptions, and rushed for only 36 yards in 11 carries.

Allen wasn‘t dismayed, pointing to his defensive effort:  “That’s the first game all year that I was really sticking people out there.”

SEMIFINALS

Almost 7,500 persons jammed Southwestern College and witnessed one of the all-time San Diego Section postseason games between schools located only three miles apart near the San Diego-National City boundary.

Lincoln led, 20-7, at halftime but coach Dave Lay’s tough Sweetwater Red Devils battled back to take the lead.

Sweetwater kept the ball for all but 90 seconds of the third quarter and went ahead, 21-20, on George Stoutenburg’s two touchdown passes.

The Red Devils seemingly had the Hornets in their grasp when Lincoln was faced with third down, 35 yards to go, from Sweetwater’s 45 after Allen was sacked for 10 yards, which followed a 15-yard penalty.

The scoreboard clock drifted to under three minutes.

Lincoln didn’t panic.

Allen pitched the ball wide to Johnny Green and the Red Devils’ defense converged to cover what looked like a sweep.

But Green pulled up near the right sideline and lofted a 40-yard pass to Anthony Kelly, who caught the ball between two defenders for a first down at the five-yard line.

Allen put the Hornets in front again with a three-yard pass to Dean Alexander.

Lincoln rode out the final 2:00 of a 26-21 victory and was going to the finals.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Piece of cake.

Allen set a CIF record with 5 touchdowns and rushed for 197 yards in nine carries.  He scored from 30, 85, 20, and 10 yards and on a 60-yard interception return.

The Hornets defeated Kearny, 35-6, and as Allen said, “We had one thing to prove and that’s that we are No. 1.  We did it.”

“I’ll say it again, the 1976 team (which had a 7-2 record) had more talent, but this team put it together by staying together,” said Player.  “It’s a selfless team, a group of players who want to win for their teammates as much as for themselves.”

Allen spent the game’s last six minutes relaxing as he walked up and down the Hornets’ bench in San Diego Stadium, high-fiving and back-slapping his teammates.

In 13 games, Allen completed 54 per cent of his passes (78×145) for 1,434 yards and 9 touchdowns.  He rushed for 1,098 yards, averaging 8.3 yards for 132 attempts, and scored 12 touchdowns.

But Allen was named San Diego Section player of the year…as a defender.  He made 94 unassisted tackles and had a hand in 217 from his free safety position..

EMBREY HANGS UP WHISTLE

Bob (Chick) Embrey, an all-Southern California performer at halfback in 1944, and head coach since 1956, was ending a remarkable career  at Escondido.

“People are going to think I’m stepping down because we’re having a rough season (3-3, with the losses all by less than a touchdown),” Embrey told Steve Brand.

“I wasn’t motivated to do the job any longer,” said the always candid coach.  “I plan to stay on and teach and maybe help out with the Jayvees in a few years.”

Embrey’s last team was 4-5, only the fourth losing squad in his 22 seasons.  “A minor factor,” said the coach. “I felt I should stay through this year as a commitment to the seniors.”

Embrey retired with a career record of 144-66-4 (.682) and held the County record for most victories, which included San Diego Section titles in 1960 and ’63, and a tie for the title in ’69.

“At one time Escondido High was the only school in this area,” Embrey remembered.  “Then they split and split again, forming new schools (Orange Glen and San Pasqual) which cut down on our enrollment.

The legendary North County boss smiled.  “And each one of those schools wanted to make their reputation by beating Escondido,” he said.

Times had changed.

NO TIME FOR CHIT CHAT

Julian, 1-1-1 at the start of the season, outscored its last five opponents, 146-11, and shut out Army-Navy, 35-0, for the small schools’ title, but there would be no coffee klatches in the mountains with head coach Bill Nolan.

Not even a slice of apple at one of the local pie shops.

“We don’t have booster club meetings and we don’t take films,” said Nolan.   “I can’t see spending half my time in front of a projector.”

Nolan may have trod a different coaching path, but he read the community.  Julian, he said, was like any other small town.

We love you, coach, win or tie.

“The community doesn’t like to lose,” Nolan said.  “In fact, my second year here we didn’t make the playoffs and it almost cost me my job.”

Nolan had compiled a 30-22-3 record and had won two Class A championships since becoming head coach in 1970.

The Eagles’ 7-1-1 record this season was a historic best for the school, which opened in 1893 but didn’t play football until 1967.

FIT TO BE TIED

The Orange Glen-San Pasqual rivalry is called the Battle of Bear Valley Parkway, because the schools are located within 4 miles of each other on the thoroughfare in east Escondido.

Neither the varsity, junior varsity or freshmen teams of both schools could claim victory or had to live with a loss.  The big boys tied, 20-20, the JV’s deadlocked, 14-14, and the freshmen scratched to a 0-0 finish.

SNAP CALL BAD CALL?

Controversy, always hovering, reared up in the Castle Park-Vista quarterfinals game.

Vista, trailing, 14-12, had driven 67 yards to the Trojans’ 18-yard line with 2:56 remaining.

Panthers quarterback Jon Korcheran rolled left, and then threw back across the middle.

Richard Bisset, circling out of the backfield, jumped to catch the pass and was immediately hit by Castle Park defenders, who separated Bisset from the ball.

Touchdown, ruled official Bill Tellous, who was straddling the goal line.

“I’ll admit, it was close…could have gone either way,” Bisset told Hank Wesch of The San Diego Union.  “I really thought I had the ball long enough but didn’t think the official thought so.”

Bisset’s body language suggested fumble: “I got mad and started jumping up and down but when I turned around, I saw the ref signal touchdown.”

Trojans coach Gil Warren railed against the possession call.  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” stormed the veteran coach.

Vista’s 18-14 victory was followed by a 21-7 loss to Kearny in the semifinals.

KEARNY MIRACLE

Tom Barnett would never forget his third game as a head coach.

The Kearny mentor watched his team resourcefully score 22 points in the last 6:55 to defeat Patrick Henry, coached by first-year mentor Dale Twombley, 28-26, in what would be the Eastern League title decider.

Patrick Henry lost four fumbles, including two in the fourth quarter, the first at the Komets’ 34, followed shortly by Marty Hunter’s 37-yard touchdown pass to Tony Ford.

The Patriots lost the ball again 50 seconds later and the Komets drove 23 yards to Stanley Holmes’s touchdown with 4:33 left.  A two-point conversion narrowed the Patriots’ lead to 26-20.

Four plays later Kearny again had the ball, but Hunter was intercepted by Eddie Wilson deep in Henry territory.

With fourth down on their eight-yard line and 33 seconds remaining, Henry’s Matt Kofler accepted a safety.

The score now was 26-22 but Kofler seemed to move Henry out of danger with a robust, 70-yard punt.

From the Komets’ 26-yard line, Hunter found Ford down the middle for a 43-yard gain to Henry’s 31.

Five seconds remained and Hunter, appearing trapped on the sideline, lofted a cross-field, 31-yard pass to D.J. Jones, who caught the ball for the winning touchdown as time ran out.

“I didn’t know where the line of scrimmage was,” said Hunter.  “I saw him open and threw it.”

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Earnel Durden was an all-America football player at Oregon State and he earned rare praise from head coach Tommy Prothro, a coach not given to hyperbole.

“Durden was a real gung-ho player,” said Prothro, who admired the former Los Angeles city player of the year from Manual Arts  for his toughness and passion, whether running the ball or blocking in the Beavers’ single wing attack.

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Durden,  a coach on Prothro’s San Diego Chargers staff, had a son leading the football team at Helix.

Quarterback Mike Durden, a star in his own right,  spoke of the group concept.

“I consider that the line has to block, I have to throw, and someone has to receive,” said Durden, who also was a starting guard in basketball and a sub 49-second quarter miler on the track team.

QUICK KICKS

Lincoln had no home games and competed at nine different sites in 13 weeks:  Point Loma, Mesa College, Southwestern College, Patrick Henry, La Jolla, Madison, Serra, Hoover, and San Diego Stadium…Stanley Murphy, who played at San Diego High, was named the Cavers’ head coach…Murphy’s older brother, H.D., was the star of the 1959 Southern Section Southern Division championship team…geography meant nothing, but the West defeated the East, 22-14, in the Grossmont League  carnival…the West’s Granite Hills, 11 miles East of Helix, outscored the Highlanders, 9-0, in the fifth and final, 12-minute quarter… announced attendance was 12,205 at San Diego Stadium for Kearny and Lincoln…the winning Hornets arrived to a welcoming crowd of more than 700 on campus…Gov. Brown would not sign a bill that shifted the burden of malpractice suits from team doctors, who volunteered their time and service, to school districts and, ultimately, to taxpayers…lawyers got involved and the issue wasn’t settled before the season, but doctors were given some leeway and continued to staff games…the Grossmont District superintendent came under fire when he suggested banning all interscholastic sports because of budget woes….