Duane Allen, 65; NFL Player for Rams in ‘60s

Duane Allen, a National Football League player in the 1960s, most notably with the Los Angeles Rams, has died. He was 65.

Allen died Wednesday of a heart attack at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena. He had suffered a stroke April 11.

Born in Alhambra, Allen was a junior college All-American at Santa Ana College.

At 6-foot-4, 225 pounds and exceptionally fast, Allen was selected by the Rams in the ninth round of the NFL draft in 1960.

Used sparingly by a Ram team that was stocked with excellent receivers such as Carroll Dale and Del Shofner, Allen nevertheless frequently ended up in the end zone on his pass routes. Five of his first seven receptions with the Rams were for touchdowns.

Allen left the Rams after the 1964 season, playing for Pittsburgh and finally Chicago.

He went into coaching after his playing days and helped the football and track programs at Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra from the late 1960s through the early 1990s.

He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Kazon; and a son, Duane Allen Jr., a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy.

Funeral services are planned for 10:30 a.m. Monday at First Baptist Church, 101 S. Atlantic Blvd., Alhambra.