Former Sun Devils Star to Be Inducted into Hall of Fame

Former Arizona State Sun Devils star Eric Allen will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. He joins fellow Sun Devils alumnus and Oakland Raiders great Mike Haynes in the prestegious Hall.

Allen received a phone call from Willie Shaw, after he spent three miserable seasons with the New Orleans Saints. This was at a time Allen contemplating retirement. The year was 1997. Shaw was the defensive backs coach for the Raiders at the time and also coached Allen at Arizona State.

"Hey," Shaw said, "why don't you come and take a trip to Oakland?"

Allen laughed.

"I was with the Saints last year, and we beat you guys," Allen said.

"I want to finish my last couple years [playing] in meaningful football games."

Shaw was non-plussed.

"Just come out and meet everybody," he said.

Allen followed his old coach's advice and flew out to Oakland. The rest they say is history.

Allen's four years with the Raiders to close out his career were not only full of meaningful games that helped resurrect the franchise, his stint in Silver and Black also put Allen on a clear trajectory for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where he will be enshrined on Saturday and become the 31st Gold Jacket recognized by the Raiders.

"It was the combination of the Raiders emerging as a playoff contender," Allen told Paul Gutierrez of raiders.com this week, "coinciding with my impact as a playmaker."

Allen excelled for the Raiders. He played in 58 games for the Silver and Black and had 15 interceptions, three touchdowns off of those interceptions and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. He had another interception in the AFC title game. He did all of this as an older player in his mid-30's.

He helped usher the Raiders into the 21st century. Former Raiders coach Jon Gruden, who was an assistant with the team in 1998, remembers Allen well.

"We only had nine players in our offseason program," former Raiders coach Jon Gruden, who was in the first year of his first stint with the team at the time, told me. "So it wasn't like morale was at an all-time high. We were last in total defense the year before. We were last against the run. We were last against the pass. I don't know if that had ever been done before.