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| Wednesday, July 16 |
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| Image is not everything for Allen By Luke Meredith SchoolSports.com | ||||||
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John Allen has a problem. It's his image. On the court, Allen, the star of the Coatesville High (Pa.) boys' basketball team, is a menacing, hard-scrabble kid from a hard-scrabble city who plays the game with equal parts muscle, skill and vigor. Players like that rarely make friends of the opposition.
Off the court, Allen's name is synonymous with "the incident." It's a rumor, blended with both hearsay and fact, spoken of in hushed whispers every time Coatesville visits an opposing gym. It's the mistake in judgement that almost ruined Allen's chances for a shot at his dream. It's a life lesson that taught him who had his back and who didn't. Allen, a 6-foot-5 forward who is rated among the top 50 seniors in the nation, went through one of the toughest years an All-State high school basketball player could go through last season. He, along with four other Coatesville High athletes, was ordered to wear a monitoring device strapped to his ankle after being implicated in the alleged rape of a 16-year-old girl at a party on Oct. 1, 1999. Allen was charged with attempted involuntary deviate sexual assault, while the others were charged with rape and indecent assault. Allen played the season with the monitor strapped to his ankle. The five defendants were later exonerated of any wrongdoing, but that doesn't mean the stigma surrounding the incident went away. His reputation, fair or unfair, has taken a hit it may never completely recover from. But the people who matter in Allen's life -- his family, members of the community and the gaggle of college coaches who see Allen as a major talent -- all believed in him. And thanks to hard work and the faith others had in him, Allen had a breakout campaign in 1999-2000. He established himself as one of the nation's top juniors, averaging 22.7 points and 11 rebounds a game as the Red Raiders rolled to a 30-2 record and a District 1 title. These days, Allen doesn't shy away from talking about the incident. He has come to see it as a learning experience, a facilitator for maturity and a big slice of humble pie. "It changed me a lot. I thought, I'm in this little town and everybody knows me. I thought pretty highly of myself," says Allen, who will join former Roman Catholic High (Pa.) star Eddie Griffin -- provided Griffin doesn't bolt for the NBA Draft -- at Seton Hall next year. "The incident brought me down to earth. The guys on the team helped me a lot. I had the whole community behind me. I made a mistake in my decisions, and I learned from it." The events of last season overshadowed the story Allen's actions were writing during the first 17 years of his life. That story is of a kid who grew up in a family of basketball junkies who are all proud of his actions, on the court and off of it. Allen's father, John Munson, and his uncle, Chris Jones, passed their love of the game down to him almost before he could say "Sixers." Jones would take Allen down to play at "The Cage," a half-court on First Avenue in Coatesville, when he was 4 years old. By the time he was 5, Allen was playing in the Police Athletic League. Allen was always tall for his age, and his uncle wasn't shy about getting him to run with the big boys. Allen's father is a Philadelphia 76ers fan straight from the Dr. J era, and he talked NBA with his son every night. Even though Allen's dad knew his boy had skills, he never let his son get a big head. Not on his watch. Because of that, and the support he has received from the community, Allen is a hometown hero, the worthy successor to a throne once occupied by Coatesville legend Richard "Rip" Hamilton, now a member of the Washington Wizards. "People tell me, ?You the man.' But Dad says, 'You ain't the man,'" says Allen, who still talks about the game with his father on a nightly basis. "He always kept me grounded. A lot of people I grew up with turned to drugs, but I always stayed on the right path. Somebody was always there to help me out." Coatesville head coach Jim Smith put Allen on the varsity team as a freshman. The teen responded by averaging 12 points and nine rebounds per game. According to Smith, he saw something in Allen that he saw in Hamilton at the same age, and that was his cue Allen was going to be something special. "He was head and shoulders above everybody else his age," says Smith. "He was similar to Rip in style at that age, but he also helped others out by his unselfishness. He knew he was better, but he didn't want to stick out. He wanted to blend in." With the help of assistant coach Ricky Hicks, who helped Allen hone his considerable talents, Allen averaged 14 points per game as a sophomore. The pieces seemed in place for a breakout junior season, and though Allen had to deal with the gravity of an impending sexual assault trial, that's exactly what happened. To Allen and those around him, the incident is over. This season is about going after the town's first state title, which would be the realization of a dream he has had since first grade. What people think of Allen is, well, what people are going to think of him. And once he came to grips with that, he was ready to move on. But that doesn't mean he's comfortable with those he thinks have the wrong idea about him. "I just want people to know that I'm a good person," says Allen. "People see the way I am on the court, mean-faced, and then the incident, and they think [a certain] way about me. But I'm a good person to anybody. I'll give you a chance if you come at me positive or negative. I just want to let people know that I'm a good person inside." This season, Coatesville is 14-1 and ranked No. 1 in the Philadelphia area. Allen has raised his scoring average to 26.7 points per game, and on Tuesday night against West Chester Henderson High, Allen needs just 18 points to become the first boys' basketball player in Coatesville history to score 2,000 career points. The path Allen has taken to get where he is has had some unexpected twists, but the opportunity to chase his dream of playing in the NBA is still intact. Allen turned down offers from Villanova, Temple and UConn and opted for the fraternal nature of coach Tommy Amaker and Seton Hall, perhaps the nation's top up-and-coming program. But Allen isn't looking ahead just yet. He's been waiting a long time for the 2000-01 season, and the desire to bring a state title to the community that both raised him and stood behind him through the rough times burns within him. Throw in a loss to Chester High in the PIAA Eastern Final last season, and you've got a kid who would throw away every record he has ever set, or is about to set, to be on a ladder cutting down a state championship game net come March. "[Point guard Maurice Bryant] and I have been waiting for this since first grade, to be the two main guys in Coatesville," says Allen. "We've worked hard to get where we are, and we appreciate where we're at."
Material from SchoolSports.com.Visit their web site at www.schoolsports.com | |
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