Even George Allen Would Have Enjoyed His Memorial Service

George Allen would have liked his memorial service Friday, and he would have been impressed that it was organized with the precision of one of his game plans.

The staff at Rolling Hills Covenant Church even had a checklist, complete with a diagram of the worship area, and details as to how far the curtains would be opened, where each speaker would stand and how long he would speak.

Much like the X’s and O’s the famous coach loved.

And Allen, who died of cardiac arrest at age 72 Monday and was buried an hour before the service began, would have liked it because it was upbeat, with hip-hip-hurrays and videos of happy locker-rooms from his 24-year career.

“He would have wanted this to be a celebration,” said Tom Skinner, who was Allen’s chaplain with the Washington Redskins.

About 1,000 people, including Allen’s last team from Cal State Long Beach and former NFL stars Merlin Olsen, Deacon Jones and Dick Butkus, attended the service.

Allen’s widow, Etty, sat in the front row, and listened as Bill Harris, who had played for Allen at Whittier College in the early 1950s, told how Allen would have his Whittier players drive their cars to the edge of the practice field and turn their headlights on because the field had no lights.

And then she heard Harris say, “George told me his marriage to Etty was the love affair of the century.”

Billy Kilmer, who was quarterback of the Redskins under Allen, recalled meeting Allen for the first time and how he was almost blown over by the coach’s cliches.

“I had never heard a man talk to a 32-year-old pro football player like that,” Kilmer said in a raspy, breaking voice. “A lot of people have seen him dancing in the locker rooms, and heard some of the speeches he’d give, and they would say that was corny. The reason it was not corny was because he believed it.”

Roman Gabriel, Allen’s quarterback for the Rams in the late ‘60s, looked out at Raider owner Al Davis and told how he was persuaded by Allen to turn down a $400,000 offer from the Raiders to stay with the Rams, who were paying him $25,000.

“I was offered something that I never thought I’d hear of,” Gabriel said. “I certainly would have enjoyed that experience, but I had someone like George Allen speak to me. He came to me and told me money wasn’t the real reason to play the game. I turned all that money down and I never will regret it. With my life nowadays, taking what I’ve learned from George Allen, money is not the biggest objective in the world.”

Greg Allen, one of Allen’s three sons, said his father was a hero and portrayed him as a kind, family man who liked to sit by the fireplace.

“He was always encouraging us to love each other,” Greg Allen said. “He had the heart of a shepherd, caring for those he taught and who were in need. He’d tell his (Long Beach) players to love each other--how’s that for a halftime speech.”

Bruce Allen said that when he returned home shortly after his father’s death, he saw, by the telephone, one of his father’s last notes.

George Allen had written, his son said, (1) win a championship, (2) have everybody graduate, (3) build a stadium, and (4) then take a tough job.

The audience laughed and, right on schedule, the curtains opened and a video was shown, accompanied by a recording of Jerry Vale singing “I Gotta Be Me.”

There was Allen coaching on the sidelines, jogging with his players and doing sit-ups.

And the last image was of him celebrating like a little boy in a joyous locker room.