Return to story

Surprise: Allen back in uniform

December 3, 2005 12:50 am

By ADAM HIMMELSBACH

Before we begin this story, go get a small trash can and fill it halfway with ice.

Then take the shoe and sock off your right foot, roll up your pant leg, and nestle your sole to the bottom of the chilly bucket.

Makes you want to bundle up in a blanket just reading this, doesn't it?

Well, after every football practice, Byron Allen does this to his right foot.

But that's not the crazy part.

The crazy part, the part that will make you squint and drop your jaw, is that the numbing pain is one of the best feelings Allen has ever had.

It's not that the Massaponax senior loves making his toes feel like frozen sausages.

It's just that this is part of his comeback. This is part of his return that no one--not his doctors or parents or coaches--thought was possible.

This means that somehow, eight weeks after a broken ankle was supposed to end his season, he plans to play today when the Panthers visit Hampton in a Group AAA, Division 5 state semifinal.

"I thought he was done," Massaponax coach Eric Ludden said. "This is a total shock."

Doctors said he was done

If it had been one of those crisp, dry autumn evenings, maybe none of this would have happened.

If a drenching rain hadn't turned the football field to pudding on that Friday in early October, maybe Byron Allen would have been fine.

But the area's games were cancelled on Oct. 7 and rescheduled for the following Monday.

The Panthers were playing host to Colonial Forge, and midway through the game, Allen's right foot sunk into a muddy patch of grass. His body turned, his foot stayed planted, and his ankle and knee twisted like they were made of taffy.

Allen, a starter at safety and running back, fell to the mushy ground.

It felt like someone had taken a hammer to his knee. But the co-captain had broken bones before. This didn't feel like that.

He was helped off the field and sat on a trainer's table.

"I was worried about my knee," said Allen, who'd scored 13 touchdowns in the Panthers' first six games, "Then I looked down at my ankle and saw it was as big as a grapefruit."

Allen later got X-rays. He had a broken fibula and needed surgery. His doctors told him he wouldn't play football again this season.

Allen cried.

The surgery would take place that Friday, four days after the injury. Before the procedure, Allen told his parents he wanted to see Massaponax play Stafford that night, when he was out of the hospital.

Fred and Delois Allen nodded their heads and told their son they'd take him to the game. Truly, they were just trying to be nice. They figured there was no way he'd go to any football game when this was over with.

The nurses stuck an IV in Allen's arm. He remembers joking and laughing with them. Then he remembers waking up. He was hungry when he woke up. But he wasn't in much pain. A screw had been put into his ankle.

He asked his parents to take him to the football game.

His mother was resistant. His father was unsure.

But Byron can be a convincing kid.

"It was such a sad moment for him," Fred Allen said. "It just seemed like if we took him to the game, it would put some life into him and make him feel good again."

A few hours after the surgery, Allen was being rolled onto the sidelines at Stafford High School in a wheelchair.

He addressed his teammates as his eyes welled with tears. The other three co-captains walked to midfield for the pregame coin toss, leaving an open space where Allen was supposed to be.

He sat in his wheelchair for the first three quarters, right leg raised and in a cast. Then the anesthesia wore off, and the pain set in.

The energetic senior was confined to his home for the next five days. He laid in bed and watched television. He ate plenty of food.

"And," he said, "I talked on the phone to everyone and their Momma."

Life's routine tasks became chores.

Allen had to keep his ankle raised when he went to the bathroom.

He couldn't shower, so he wrapped his cast in a towel and rested his elevated leg on the edge of the bathtub.

"Watching him go through everything," Fred Allen said, "we hurt as much as he did."

The return

A week after the surgery, Allen returned to school and ditched the wheelchair for crutches.

He hobbled through the hallway and received plenty of dour, sympathetic looks.

"Keep your head up, Byron."

"It'll be fine, Byron."

The thing was, Allen was fine. He never pouted. He never snapped.

He came to practices and acted as an assistant coach. He came to games and led cheers.

He started working out under the guidance of Massaponax athletic trainer Christy Bagby, and his upper body stayed solid as a sidewalk.

"He's the most dedicated player I know," Panthers linebacker Josh Wine said. "Most guys would get hurt and then want to go home because they can't deal with it, but Byron was at every practice saying, 'Don't worry about me.'"

Allen didn't tell anyone, but he was thinking about playing football again.

He saw the way the undefeated Panthers were making mashed potatoes out of their opponents, one by one.

Each week, each game they won, Allen realized their season could stretch into December.

Three weeks ago, Allen's doctors told him he could walk without crutches.

His first stop on the way home, of course, was Massaponax's football practice.

He couldn't hold back his smile. It creased his face and kept creasing. He was like a small child showing off a new pair of sneakers.

He walked onto the field, legs moving, arms swaying.

"Everyone just went crazy," Allen said. "They stopped what they were doing, but I told them to get back to practice."

Soon after he shed his crutches, Allen was back at practice, doing side work, fighting to get back. He did lunges and wall jumps and other range of motion exercises.

His determination came as no surprise to the Massaponax coaches. When Allen was a thin-as-a-pipe-cleaner freshman, he used to stay in the weight room long after everyone else had left. He always asked for 10 more minutes.

When he started walking three weeks ago, Allen told Ludden he'd play again this season. The Panthers coach says he's a softy when it comes to stories like this. Allen's struggle tugged at his heart.

"I didn't think there was any way he'd be back, but I didn't want to discourage him," Ludden said. "So I said 'That's great, Byron.'"

A few days before Massaponax's Northwest Region semifinal against Halifax on Nov. 19, Allen started practicing with the scout team.

The Panthers took care of the Comets, 40-13.

Last week, as Massaponax prepared for its regional title game against E.C. Glass, Allen practiced a little more, a little harder.

The Panthers took care of the Hilltoppers, 28-7.

At home, Fred and Delois Allen saw their son bounding up and down the stairs like he used to. They couldn't believe it.

At practice this week, Allen went full-tilt.

He's been wearing a small brace on his right knee and ices his ankle for 25 minutes after each session, but he feels great.

The doctors have cleared him to play this afternoon, as the Panthers try to step toward a state championship.

He might see a handful of snaps. He might play half the game. Regardless, the sight of the strong senior wearing No. 2 will have an impact.

It will bring chills to Allen's parents. It will bring confidence to his teammates. It will bring unending admiration from his school. It will bring pride to a coach.

"Byron worked tirelessly to get back," Ludden said. "He didn't want to end his career on that field with that injury, and he's been an inspiration to me and all of these kids."

To reach ADAM HIMMELSBACH: 540/374-5442
Email: ahimmelsbach@freelancestar.com