Remembering a legend

Schalick Cougars plan to honor the memory of Anthony Allen with helmet decal, retiring number

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – There’s not a football player in the game who doesn’t love applying decals to the back of their helmets every week. Those tiny badges of honor that signify goals met during the season.

Every player on the Schalick football team will have a special decal on their helmets this year, one that holds special meaning to everyone in the community and one player in particular.

The Cougars will be wearing a “42” decal on the back of their helmets going forward to honor the legacy of former Schalick standout Anthony Allen who died last November after a battle with cancer. He was 48. The jersey number also will be retired.

“If you are from Pittsgrove and you’re from Schalick, the Allen family stands everywhere,” Cougars head coach Mike Wilson said. “Aunts, uncles, everybody. They’re a cornerstone of Schalick. The Allens are Schalick.”

There are still a number of school records with Allen’s name on them – and he graduated in 1993. After starring for the Cougars, he went on to play small college football. His brother, Freddie, runs the community’s youth football program and other family members sit on the boards of other sports.

The last Schalick player to wear the 42 was a freshman last year. The Cougars didn’t wear a No. 50 last season as a tribute to Chris Jambor, a rising senior player who died from injuries suffered in a roadside bicycle accident the previous April.

“Freddie called me one night and goes, ‘With Anthony passing away what do you want to do?’” Wilson recalled. “I said we’re going to honor him all season. We’ll do a moment of silence at a couple games. We’ll work through it. The Allen family is such a big part of Schalick and Pittsgrove we had to do something.”

Reggie Allen remembers he cried the day school officials told him they were going to honor his uncle with the special decal and it will “mean a lot” to him when he sees it for the first time. A three-sport athlete at the school, he plays the same type position on the football field as his uncle, a linebacker-safety hybrid.

“It means a lot to me because he was a big part of my life,” the junior said. “He’s one of my inspirations to play football. He lived in Atlantic City and didn’t come down, but when I’d see him he’d ask me how I did and we’d talk about things I needed to improve on. I’m glad Coach Wilson realized that and is retiring his number.”

Reggie hasn’t suited up since his uncle passed. He isn’t quite sure what he’ll do during the season to honor his uncle, but he knows he’ll do something appropriate.

“I might write something on my cleats,” he said. “He’s always going to be with me when I’m out there. The last time seeing him was when he left my house and he told me he loved me.”