Eagles’ Allen Still on File at Point Loma : Pro football: Coach recalls former standout who now is doing just fine in Philadelphia.

Bennie Edens has been tutoring the football team at Point Loma High School for so long, he probably has forgotten more kids than many coaches ever come across.

One, however, never escapes Edens’ memory. He gets a twinkle in his eye just hearing the name.

Eric Allen, class of 1983. Occupation: cornerback, Philadelphia Eagles.

“Eric Allen was an athlete,” said Edens, 66. “That was his attribute. I recall we tried to make a decision whether to use him on offense or defense, and we couldn’t.

“I realize he’s made his mark in the NFL as a defensive player, but he was a heck of an offensive player as well. I’m convinced he could have done just as well in the pros as a receiver.”

Said Allen: “I didn’t like playing defense in high school. It was boring.”

Most NFL quarterbacks, including perhaps the Eagles’, probably wish Allen would have stuck with catching passes rather than breaking them up. He has been a menace to them at cornerback.

Allen, a second-round draft choice out of Arizona State, is ninth on the Eagles’ all-time interception list with 21, and everyone ahead of him has played at least five years. Allen is in his fourth season.

He had five interceptions as a rookie in 1988, an NFC-leading eight in ’89 and three last year. With two games remaining this year--Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys and the following week against the Washington Redskins--he is tied for the NFC lead once again with five interceptions.

“It’s funny,” Allen said. “Last year, I only had three, and I was pressing. That’s all I ever thought about, ‘Interception. Interception. Interception.’ But then I talked with my mother, and she helped set me straight. She said, “What did you focus on the year you had eight interceptions?’ I said, ‘I just tried to cover my man as closely as possible.’

“And that was it. I realized all I could do was cover my man and try to make the most of my opportunities. You can’t press in this game. In many instances, all you can do is take what the opposition gives you.”

Allen and the Eagles, winners of six consecutive after a disappointing 3-5 start under first-year Coach Rich Kotite, have been taking plenty lately. So much so that the defense is now being asked to take on a catchy nickname.

“The radio stations are having contests and everybody out here is trying to get a nickname for us that will stick,” Allen said. “It’s nice to be a part of it all, but my feeling is we have to win a playoff game before anything will stick.”

In years past, Pittsburgh had its Steel Curtain, Dallas its Doomsday Defense and Minnesota its gang of Purple People Eaters. Certainly, the Eagles deserve something.

They currently lead the NFL in passing defense, rushing defense and, naturally, total defense, and have a chance to become the first team to lead the league in all three categories in the same year since Minnesota in 1975.

“It’s not really the system that makes us the defense we are,” Allen said. “It’s the personnel and the personalities we have. Everyone gets along great. Everyone does their part, and that adds up to a great whole.”

If there is such a thing as a typical defensive player, Allen is not it.

At 5-feet-10 and 177 pounds, he abstains from contact whenever possible.

“I’m a cover guy. This body wasn’t built for tackling,” he says.

“He’s one of the best cover guys I’ve ever seen,” Otis Smith, a fellow Eagle cornerback, said. “I’ve learned a lot from him just by watching him. But I’ve also asked a lot of questions. At first, I thought I was getting on his nerves because I asked so many questions. But he’s been great. I think he enjoys teaching.

“That’s his forte. Stop the pass. Stop receivers. Few, if any, do it better, and he’s having fun doing it.”

Allen is the youngest of three children to Alyce and Earl Allen--the latter a retired U.S. Marine sergeant. Though the family lived in Southeast San Diego, Eric went to Dana Junior High in Point Loma before going to Point Loma High. At Dana, he befriended the former Lynn Noe, and they dated off and on for years before getting married last spring.

“I’ve been fortunate,” he said. “In addition to everything I have going for me, I love football. I have a passion for the game. I could sit home and watch games all day, college, professional, whatever. I really enjoy the X’s and O’s part of the game and the different philosophies people have. I’m not overwhelmed by just being here.

“And I try to remind myself before every game . . . this could be my last game. If it is, I’m all right. I made it. I never expected to make it, and I made it. And I had a good time. I want to look back some day and say, ‘I had a ball.’ ”

Allen also wants to look back and see that he made a difference in the community. He is involved with dozens of anti-drug campaigns and inner-city youth programs in both Philadelphia and New Jersey, where he and Lynn now live in a modest but elegant home in a complex called Society Hill.

“It doesn’t surprise me that he is giving something back,” Edens said. “He had a warm, loving family and parents who really cared about their children. As good as he was, Eric always managed to keep his feet on the ground.”

Said Izel Jenkins, another Eagle cornerback: “(Eric) plays the game with a passion. He’s so involved in the game, so focused on what’s going on. But at the same time, he’s joking around and laughing and having a good time. And that carries over in his personality off the field. He’s just an all-around well-likable guy with a good heart.”

Allen, who has a degree in broadcasting and can be a terrific storyteller, shared this one about his involvement in Big Brothers of Philadelphia.

“I have a Little Brother in Philadelphia,” Allen began. “I talk to him a lot and try to get a perspective on how young people are thinking. Just a few years ago, I was in the same situation that he is. You know, 10, 12 years ago, I was his age, and I thought I had it bad. And everyone else did, too. We lived in Southeast San Diego. There were gangs all around there. I’ve seen people shot. I’ve seen people beat up for no apparent reason. All that stuff.

“Then, I listen to him. He was playing basketball one day, and a guy lost a game. You know how when you’re playing street basketball and a guy loses a game, somebody else says, ‘I got next game.’ So the guy who lost gave the other guy the next game, went home, got his gun, came back and shot him.

“My Little Brother told me, ‘I was standing right there . . . And the guy came back five minutes later and shot the guy because he took his game.’ ”

Allen continued: “It’s brutal. Every day he has something like that. And it’s a situation where you want to say, ‘Keep striving. Keep going. Keep things positive.’ But at some point you’ve got to say to yourself, ‘Hold up, man. Get in reality. You have to try to protect this kid.’

“We--and I don’t just mean football players--all of us have to try to do something.”

And as Allen talks to the kids, whether it’s on the street or in one of the many classrooms he visits throughout the year, he stresses respect.

“The main thing is be respectful and be respected,” he said. “Be a person who can walk down the street in the community and talk to the older lady and she’ll respect you. She won’t be frightened or scared of you. That’s more important than having money or material things.

“Going that way and trying to bring respect and integrity back into your household, you’ll always be successful.”