Masontown’s Smith carried on family tradition of football
If you dig into Allen Smith鈥檚 football bio you will discover an interesting fact; he was a former teammate of actor Burt Reynolds at Florida State.
Smith was a crackerjack running back for Masontown High School in the 1950鈥檚 and he also played some basketball for the Gunners.
Masontown posted football records of 5-5 in 1953, 5-4-1 in 1954 and 3-7 during Smith鈥檚 senior season in 1955.
鈥淚t was a rite of passage playing football for Masontown,鈥� Smith recalled. 鈥淚t was a family tradition, I had three brothers that played football, two for Masontown and one for Albert Gallatin. Brother Jim graduated in 1952, Don graduated in 1957 and Ron graduated from the first class at Albert Gallatin in 1961.鈥�
Smith played for the late John Lozar at Masontown.
鈥淟ozar was a very good coach,鈥� Smith stated. 鈥淗e was tough, he was a disciplinarian. You always called him Mr. Lozar, if you called him Lozar he would rap you one.鈥�
The running game was the bread and butter for Masontown football, with the advent of the T formation, the Gunners were one of the few teams that remained in the single wing formation.
鈥淎ctually when I received offers to play football in college, two of the schools were Tennessee and Syracuse and both of them at the time were still running the single wing,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淭he single wing was starting to fade away. I played all three positions at various times in the single wing. I played left halfback the most. Basically I ran the football, I could throw the ball pretty well.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 throw the football very much, but on occasion we did. We had jump passes off our running plays. It would look like a running play and I would throw a jump pass. Running the ball is what we did best.鈥�
Masontown had some pretty good talent back in the day.
鈥淒oc Franks was on the team, he graduated in 1955,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淟arry Vignali was there and he was a tremendous player who went on to star at Pitt.鈥�
In 1954, Smith scored eight touchdowns for the Gunners and he followed that up with 11 touchdowns in 1955. Smith was selected second team All-Fayette County in 1954 and garnered first team honors in 1955. He had 100 yards or more running and passing in every game during the 1955 campaign.
One of the big highlights during his senior season was a three-touchdown performance in a 24-19 loss to arch-rival German Township. Smith returned the opening kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown in that game.
鈥淕erman was always the big game,鈥� Smith remembered. 鈥淕erman was a Class A team and we were Class B. They had some great players like Buddy Ward and Jim Ford, Clarence Parnell and Jim Carter. We had them, 12-0, at halftime my senior year. The 85-yard kickoff return was a big thrill. We had a hand-off on the kickoff, Howard Green caught the opening kickoff on the 15 yard-line and started to his left and criss-crossed with me. I took the hand-off and started up the right sideline, got a good block around the 50 and I was home free.鈥�
Smith also played basketball at Masontown until they stopped playing hoops.
鈥淢y senior year we were a one-sport school,鈥� Smith stated. 鈥淚 figured it was a money problem or we always used German鈥檚 gym or All Saint鈥檚 gym. I don鈥檛 know if there was a contractual problem or what, but we didn鈥檛 play basketball my senior year.鈥�
Smith played in the Fayette-Washington County All Star game. Fayette County won that game, 14-6, and Smith was the leading rusher with 51 yards and also completed a 46-yard pass to Redstone鈥檚 Bob Yohman.
When he graduated in 1956, Smith had college offers from several schools.
鈥淔lorida State was the main school that was after me,鈥� Smith explained. 鈥淏ones Taylor came up and recruited me. When I was playing in that Fayette-Washington County All Star game, we were practicing at Redstone Middle School and he came up and took me out to dinner and they gave me an airplane ticket to go down and visit the school. My dad always wanted me to get into hotel-motel management and Florida State was one of the schools that offered that.鈥�
Smith played freshman ball at Florida State and started at halfback.
鈥淲e had a good freshman team, we played Miami of Florida in Orlando and beat them, that was the first time that ever happened,鈥� Smith said.
Smith left Florida State after his freshman season.
鈥淚 was home sick,鈥� Smith explained. 鈥淎lso back then there was a lot of friction between the boys from up North and the Southern boys. I played in spring practice and ended up with two cracked ribs, so that sort of helped make my decision. They were saying I was going to lose my spot to a guy named Burt Reynolds, but his career was cut short because of injuries.
鈥淚 came back home and Gene Franks, the former Masontown coach, called John Popovich at Waynesburg and they offered me a full scholarship to Waynesburg.鈥�
Smith was red shirted and played two seasons at Waynesburg, one season under John Popovich in 1958 when the Yellowjackets went 3-5-1, and one season under Pete Mazzaferro when Waynesburg finished 1-6-2 in 1959. During the 1959 season, Smith had 64 carries for 245 yards.
鈥淢y senior year I started pulling hamstring muscles all the time,鈥� Smith revealed. 鈥淚 was much of an asset to the team. I went to Coach Mazzaferro and said you can take my scholarship because I was dissatisfied with my play, fortunately for me he said you can keep your scholarship and graduate.鈥�
Smith graduated with a teaching degree and was a substitute at Albert Gallatin. He went to work for the Department of Public Welfare and he got a scholarship from West Virginia University and got a masters in social work. He then went to California University of Pennsylvania and got a certificate in special education. He was a special education supervisor at Intermediate Unit 1 until 1996. He was a social worker at a mental health clinic. In 1996, he went to work at Penn State Fayette Campus and retired in 2006.
鈥淚鈥檓 proud of my athletic career, I was fortunate to get a scholarship and get an education,鈥� Smith stated.
Smith, 77, resides in Masontown with his of 56 years, Linda, and they had three daughters and a son. Smith鈥檚 son, Doug, a 20-year-old Rutgers University freshman football player who died in 1981 after complaining to his coaches of a severe headache on the first day of spring practice. He had suffered a massive brain hemorrhage.
George Von Benko鈥檚 鈥淢emory Lane鈥� column appears in the Monday editions of the 缅北禁地. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.