Omitted from Author Ben Bryant’s celebrity stories: Vocal trainer for Coach George Allen

• Posted on 15th October 2014
• in celebrity books, celebrity stories online, celebrity story, Entertainment, entertainment books, Hollywood memoirs, Whittier College Football
• by Ben

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Somehow as my (unintended)

celebrity stories

were evolving in Three Stages, this one about National Football League Hall of Fame Coach George Allen slipped through the cracks of my memory and didn’t make it into the book.

George Allen became celebrated years later in the NFL as an innovator but his avant-garde proclivities were apparent even in his college years. He was one of the first coaches to opt to kickoff rather than receive when his team won the opening coin toss. In his case it was not the desire to begin the second half with the ball but rather he knew that an offense was more likely to make mistakes in the nervous first minutes of a game. When he observed a coed class I had instigated (Three Stages, chapter 3) he introduced modern dance moves to our team warmups. Allen even created return plays to be executed after interceptions and live fumble recoveries.

If you watch football at any level – either in the stands or on TV – you can’t miss noticing the screaming of the quarterbacks. Often in post-game interviews they are so hoarse it’s painful to hear them try to talk. In the incredibly noisy environment of the gridiron the vocal power of the signal caller – or lack thereof –can be one of an offense’s most crucial weapons or weaknesses. If his teammates can’t hear and understand his calls the play is doomed to failure.

Since Whittier College in 1954 was populated by only about a thousand students, outstanding or unusual characteristics possessed by any of us were pretty universally known. Coach Allen was aware that his third string, sophomore fullback was becoming recognized for having a well trained and powerful voice.

Thus he instructed me to teach his signal callers how to bellow in such a way as to maximize audibility while minimizing vocal strain. Once or twice a week, half an hour before practice, I’d meet with the three tailbacks and three blocking backs (aka quarterbacks) who sometimes called the signals at the line of scrimmage. We ran a single-wing offense hence the tailback was the usual signal caller. I coached them on proper breathing techniques and voice placement. They all became louder, crisper of delivery and less prone to loosing their voice by the fourth quarter.

George Allen wrote this book while coaching at Whittier College

After college I don’t think I saw another football game until 1966 when the Green Arrow (his Whittier nickname based on his arrowhead like physique and initials) became head coach of the LA Rams. I actually bought my first TV in New York so I could watch his games. I was torn when he moved to the Redskins in ’71 because by then I had become a New York (ecumenical in that I rooted for both the Jets and Giants) football fan. 

That forgivable Redskins sin notwithstanding, I am proud to have been a George Allen football player.

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Tags: Author Ben Bryant, Coach George Allen, NFL Hall of Fame, Whittier College Poets