Damon Allen

At 60 years old, Damon Allen has this physical status:

Damon Allen (born July 29, 1963) is a former professional quarterback who has played in the Canadian Football League.

Since being surpassed for first place by the Montréal Alouettes' Anthony Calvillo on October 10, 2011, he now ranks third in all-time professional football passing yards and second in all-time CFL passing yards.

With a total of 84,301 yards, he is pro-football's combined passing & rushing leader.

Allen retired as the best passing passer in professional football with 72,381 yards after he upset Warren Moon's total of 70,553 yards (in both the CFL and NFL combined) on September 4, 2006.

With 11,920 yards, he also ranked third in all-time CFL rush yards, behind Mike Pringle and George Reed.

Allen's twenty-third season in the CFL finished in 2007, and he announced his retirement on May 28, 2008, at the age of 44.

Allen is the younger brother of Pro Football Hall of Famer Marcus Allen. Since winning four Grey Cups with three different franchises, Allen has been dubbed one of the best CFL quarterbacks of all time.

He was also a three-time Grey Cup MVP.

He was the CFL Most Valuable Player at 42 years old in 2005, becoming the first MVP of any North American sports franchise.

He was a superb passer and rusher who died only 323 yards behind his brother Marcus.

In 2012, he was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Allen founded the Damon Allen Quarterback Academy in May 2010, in which he personally teaches quarterbacking to students of all ages and skill levels.

Personal life

Damon has three children and a son. They live in Oakville, Ontario. Damon is employed as a special assistant to the Toronto Argonauts' General Manager.

Early years

Allen began playing football in Valencia Park at the age of six. His Pop Warners Pop Warner in San Diego started playing football at six years old. Allen was a good defense player. Allen's team captured the championships in their first year as a quarterback in the Junior Peewee league. This was followed by two undefeated seasons and winning the Junior Peewee league championship for the third year in a row.

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College career

Damon continued to play college football for California State University, Fullerton. Allen led the Titans to two Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA) championships. He also tied for the first time in over 300 attempts and broke seven school records in beating just three passes intercepted. He was the first team PCAA quarterback and was named the UPI All West Coast team quarterback alongside Randall Cunningham of UNLV.

Allen finished 16th overall in the 1984 Heisman Trophy's overall polling. He also played in the Senior Bowl college All-Star game (completing 6 for 8 yards, 1 touchdown, and running for 20 yards on 3 carries).

Allen was not only a great football player, but also a great baseball player. He helped his Titans' baseball team win the 1984 College World Series, leading his team to a new season record of 66-20 as a pitcher. In the 1984 Major League Baseball Draft, he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the seventh round, the same year the Tigers captured the Major League Baseball World Series for the first time. Allen never signed a professional, major league baseball team with the Tigers, but he did sign one with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1993. Allen attended the Pirates' spring training camp in 1994, but the Pirates later dropped out of camp and chose to play in the Canadian Football League.

Professional career

Allen came to the Calgary Eskimos in 1985 and threw for 661 yards and three touchdowns in his rookie season as a back-up to Matt Dunigan. Allen appeared in the Grey Cup championship game, replacing the injured starter Dunigan, and led the Eskimos to a Grey Cup victory, defeating the Toronto Argonauts 38-36 at Vancouver's BC Place Stadium. Allen was named in the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player award for his first Grey Cup victory, and the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player award was given to him in the championship.

Allen signed with the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1989. Allen was named an Eastern Division All-Star for the first time in his CFL career in 1991. Allen rushed for a career-high 1,036 yards and 8 touchdowns in 18 games, as well as a record-breaking 4,275 yards with 24 touchdowns.

Allen signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1992. Allen's only season in "Steeltown" was for 3,858 and 19 touchdowns, as well as rushing for 850 yards and 7 touchdowns. Allen was traded to the Edmonton Eskimos after the 1992 season.

Allen helped the Eskimos win in the Grey Cup for his second time in his second appearance, winning his second title and the Grey Cup Most Valuable Player in a 33-23 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1993. Allen led the Esks to the Western Division Semi-Finals in 1994, but they lost to the BC Lions.

Allen began as a free agent with the Memphis Mad Dogs in 1995. He appeared in 15 games with the CFL expansion team and threw for 3,211 yards and 11 touchdowns on 228 of 390 passing. Allen's first professional season in the United States saw him pass for 427 yards.

Allen was a member of the BC Lions in 1996.

Allen was elected to the West Division All-Star team in 1999. He had a total of 419 yards on 315 of 521 passing for 785 yards and 8 touchdowns, ran the ball 136 times for 785 yards and 8 touchdowns, and punched for more than 300 yards on five occasions.

Allen was the CFL's all-time leading passer against Hamilton on October 28, throwing for 345 yards to tie Ron Lancaster's previous record of 50,535 yards. Allen led the CFL with 324 of 525 passes (61.7%) for his career-high 4,840 passing yards. Allen was named as the Lions' Most Valuable Player at the CFL Player Awards. Allen won his first Grey Cup with the Lions (third of his career) after throwing for 234 yards against the Montreal Alouettes.

Allen, 39, was traded from the BC Lions to the Toronto Argonauts for a second-round draft pick in the 2004 CFL Draft and a third-round pick in the 2005 CFL Draft, after Dave Dickenson's trade as their new quarterback. Allen's Argonaut re-debut was a 20-18 season-opening loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, which also marked Allen's 300th regular season game of his CFL career. Allen was the third quarterback in professional football to pass for 60,000 yards against his former team, the BC Lions, in Week 7. Allen completed 20 of 39 pass attempts for 203 yards, with 2 interceptions and 1 touchdown, giving Allen Allen 334 career touchdown passes and beating Ron Lancaster for the most career touchdown passes in CFL history. Allen will lead the Argos to the Eastern Division Final this year as well.

Allen departed the game in the third quarter after suffering a fractured left tibia and missing Weeks 10-16 on the injured reserve roster in Week 9 of the 2004 season. Allen, who was 41 years old at the time, was very worried that he would not recover from such traumatic injury, but he did. Allen was the third quarterback for a game against the BC Lions in Week 17. Allen was the backup quarterback for Michael Bishop in Week 18 and the Calgary Stampeders took the field against the Calgary Stampeders at the end of the second quarter. Allen completed his first thirteen attempts, making him the second quarterback in Argonaut history (Mike Rae, 17 of 17 versus Montreal, 1975) to finish more than 12 passes in a game in a series. Allen played in 18 of 23 pass completions, and his 82.6% completion percentage was his fourth highest finish in Argo history for a single game.

Allen was named the Most Valuable Player of the BC Lions for the third time in his career. Allen led the Argos to their 15th Grey Cup Championship and he captured his fourth championship. Allen led to 23 of 34 pass completions for 299 yards (longest gain, 34 yards) and one touchdown pass, as well as a rushing 5 times for ten yards (longest gain, 5 yards) and two rushing touchdowns.

During the 2005 CFL season, Allen continued his assault on the record books. Damon defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 34-11 on October 27, 2005, for the first time in his 21-year CFL career. The victory gave Toronto a first-place finish in the CFL East plus home field advantage in the playoffs. The game was played before 40,085 fans, the biggest audience for a CFL game in Toronto since 1992. The Montreal Alouettes defeated the Argonauts 33-17 in the 2005 East Final, thwarting their hopes of repeating their 2004 Grey Cup victory.

Allen received his first CFL Outstanding Player Award in 2005. He also hosted the inaugural "Damon Allen Quarterback Challenge" in 2004, which featured top CFL quarterbacks competing in various skill tournaments. Allen won the tournament for the second year in the Quarterback Challenge's second year.

Allen played against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2006 and broke the middle finger on his right hand on Toronto's third game of the season. Allen was hurt while trying to recover from his fall after being suspended on the game by Hamilton safety Wayne Shaw. Allen was forced to miss nearly a month and a half of action due to a fractured thumb on his right hand, and the BC Lions defeated him on July 29.

Allen broke Warren Moon's record (70,553 yards) on September 4, 2006 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to become the professional football's all-time passing leader. At 5:02 of the third quarter, the record-breaking completion, a 29-yard shovel pass to wide receiver Arland Bruce III, took place. The game was postponed briefly for a brief period of time due to CFL Commissioner Tom Wright's presentation. Allen's triumphant participation in the record-breaking football was taken by a photographer and later released by the Argos as a commemorative poster on their website.

Allen was named one of the top 50 players (#14) of the league's recent era by Canadian sports network The Sports Network/TSN in November 2006.

Allen recovered the middle finger of his (right) throwing hand on January 18, 2007 and was back in the gym in less than 24 hours.

Allen re-signed a one-year deal with the Argonauts on February 28, 2007.

Allen started the 2007 season as the Argos starting quarterback, beating out Michael Bishop and former NFL starter Mike McMahon. However, he was suspended in the third quarter of Bishop's first game despite going 14-18, 130 yards, and a touchdown. Allen's ranking was then pushed to third place on the depth chart. Allen stepped into the starting role again after Bishop went down with a wrist injury and McMahon failed to impress. In his first game back as starter, he toed the ball. Allen was placed on the nine-game injured list, and Rocky Butler took over as the Argos starting quarterback.

Allen announced that he would leave as a player on May 28, 2008, but that he will remain with the Argos as a special advisor to CEO Pinball Clemons.

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