Allen Isn’t Sorry He Chose to Head North of Border : Determined to Remain at Quarterback, Former Titan Has Starred in Canada

Damon Allen has taken a liking to ice hockey and can boast of skating with Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri, former Edmonton Oiler stars now with the Kings.

He has tried curling, that funky Canadian sport that looks like shuffleboard on ice, and declared it “weird but fun.”

Ask him how the weather is in his hometown and he says five or six degrees-- Celsius.

Geez, next thing you know Allen will start greeting pals by saying, “Hey, Hoser.”

OK, it hasn’t gotten to that yet, but it’s obvious this Canadian lifestyle has grown on Allen.

No wonder. Canada has been pretty good to him.

Allen, the former Cal State Fullerton quarterback who helped get the school out of the weekly Bottom 10 poll and into the Top 20, just completed his seventh season in the Canadian Football League and his third with the Ottawa Rough Riders.

He’s not in Raghib (Rocket) Ismail’s salary stratosphere, but at $225,000 (Canadian dollars) a year, Allen is one of the league’s highest-paid players and considered one of its top three quarterbacks.

He’s as well known in Canada as his brother, Raider running back Marcus Allen, is in the United States. With such fame and fortune has come the usual trimmings--a four-bedroom house in one of Ottawa’s most exclusive suburbs, a comfortable living for his wife and two daughters.

And get this: Allen, who grew up in San Diego and was a standout at Lincoln High School, likes Canada so much he spends off-seasons there, despite the long, cold winters. He might even stay after his playing career.

“Canada is very nice, it’s a place where you can have children grow up and go to school without worrying so much about crime,” said Allen, 28. “I can spend the rest of my life here. It’s a good place to raise a family.

“If the situation allows me to stay, I’m willing to stay. I’d like to own my own business here or be a commentator for CFL games.”

Only two jobs would make Allen leap to the lower 48 right now. One is NFL quarterback, but the longer he stays in the CFL, the less likely that is to happen.

But guess what? Allen doesn’t mind. Once obsessed with playing in the NFL, Allen now says if he never makes it, he’ll still consider his football career a success.

Besides, placing Allen in the NFL would be like squeezing a round quarterback into a square league.

With longer, wider fields, run-and-shoot offenses and only three downs to make a first down, the Canadian game is tailor-made for Allen. The 6-foot-1, 180-pounder with spindly arms and legs can drop back and pass, sprint out and throw, scramble and run--all standard features on CFL model quarterbacks.

He has used all of his weapons in four seasons with the Edmonton Eskimoes and three in Ottawa. Though he was a part-time player at Edmonton, Allen was named most valuable player of the Grey Cup--the CFL’s Super Bowl--in 1987.

Allen replaced starter Matt Dunigan in the second quarter against the Toronto Argonauts that day, and threw two touchdowns and ran for another to turn a 24-10 deficit into a 38-36 victory.

Allen signed with Ottawa as a free agent in 1989 and has helped resurrect the Rough Riders, once the laughingstock of the CFL, by leading them to consecutive Big Gulp seasons, 7-11 in 1990 and 7-11 in ’91.

The Rough Riders, who had not been to the playoffs in five years, were eliminated in the first round of the 1990 playoffs and lost to Winnipeg, 26-8, Nov. 10 in the first round the ’91 playoffs.

Allen closed the season completing 282 of 546 passes for 4,275 yards and 24 touchdowns, but he also had 31 passes intercepted. He carried 129 times for 1,036 yards and eight touchdowns, becoming only the second quarterback in CFL history to rush for at least 1,000 yards.

“Damon has such natural ability that when he gets out of the pocket and toward the line of scrimmage, no one is sure whether he’s going to run or pass,” said Ottawa Coach Joe Faragalli, who spent four years as an NFL assistant.

“So the coverage breaks down and he can pass or he can outrun the front seven. He’s a wiry, lean guy who is very fluid and is at his best sprinting out. I don’t believe NFL teams have shown much interest in him. I think he knows he’s really suited to this game.”

The NFL thought Allen was suited for cornerback or receiver. They thought he was too small to play quarterback--funny, so did all those colleges who didn’t recruit Allen--and the teams that were interested in Allen wanted to take the ball out of his hands.

So Allen, who set 12 school records at Fullerton and led the Titans to an 11-1 record in 1984, took his ball and made a run for the border. There are times when he has looked back. With an older brother who won a Heisman Trophy and a Super Bowl MVP award, that’s only natural.

“As an American growing up watching football, it’s every kid’s dream to play in the NFL,” Allen said. “But if no team will give me the opportunity, fine, I’ll be happy to play here. I know I can play down there, but it won’t frustrate me if I don’t. At least someone in the family is in the NFL.”

The only other U.S. job that would interest Allen is professional baseball pitcher. Yep, pitcher.

Titan fans may recall that Allen, a member of Fullerton’s 1984 national championship baseball team, turned down a $40,000 offer to sign with the Detroit Tigers so he could play football his senior season.

They probably don’t know that Allen, whose fastball was clocked in the 90-m.p.h. range, was drafted four times while playing for the Eskimoes.

“Every year, I’d get a letter saying this team had my rights,” Allen said.

And just before Allen reported to training camp in June, an Oakland Athletics’ scout asked Allen to throw for them.

“He only gave me two weeks notice, so I passed,” Allen said. “If I knew a month ahead of time, I would have done it.”

If the opportunity is there, Allen said he might pursue a baseball tryout this winter. It has been years since he threw a baseball, but he thinks he could still do it.

“I’m 28, but I’m a young 28 as far as my health,” Allen said. “I’ve been fortunate not to have any serious injuries. I would have liked to play both sports professionally.”

For now, though, one is enough, and the Ottawa Rough Riders certainly need his undivided attention. Before Allen got there, futility was their business--the team went 8-46 from 1986-88. And Allen didn’t exactly dazzle fans his first year in Ottawa.

He was inconsistent during a 4-14 season, and there were many days when Ottawa fans became Rough Deriders.

But there haven’t been many boos these past two seasons.

“It was very difficult coming from a team that had a lot of pride and knew what it took to win to a team that had no idea how to win,” Allen said. “Since I arrived here, it’s been a slow process, but it’s a promising situation. We’re an up-and-coming team of the ‘90s.”