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Wessler blog: Remembering Joe Allen

I also loved Joe Allen...he was an extremely personable guy who I also met in the 1960's and as you watched him play you wondered how he got it done...
Maybe that was part of his advantage -- that opponents might snicker and think that this guy is half crippled with that brace on and he barely jumps -- then Joe would go to work and embarrass bigger, quicker guys.
There was one impressive component of Joe's game and that was the way he could use his butt as a tremendous offensive weapon -- gaining him great position and displacing opponents. It was almost as if his wide posterior had its own brain and worked independently...

BTW -- Joe also had a long, fine career playing pro ball in Italy back when European basketball never got a bit of press anywhere.
I actually own the only basketball card of Joe that was produced during his playing time (there are others produced later by Bradley that were game souveniers) and it depicts Joe in his bright gold Italian team uniform with his memorable huge smile.
 
Remembering Joe Allen

Remembering Joe Allen

I was close to Joe Allen and remember him well. BU will probably never again have a player quite like him! He was one of the finest post players I have ever seen college or NBA with all the moves. Joe had super strong hands and his basketball intelligence was fantastic.

Coach Stowell used to invite a few of us to play half court games on Sunday afternoons with he and some of the BU players including Joe. I never realized how strong he was until these half court games.
The games were always competitive but great fun. Joe A. was great to play with or against. My young son used to come and watch and Joe was absolutely great with kids.

Whenever I hear or see someone say that a 6'-6" or 6' 7" player who can't jump is too small or slow to play the 5, I always think of Joe Allen or Wes Unseld. While he is clearly not Joe Allen, I wonder if a Max Bielfeld
would fit into this catagory.
 
Great story from Wessler. Thanks! I never had the chance to see Allen play; I only remember him as an assistant coach. I've always heard how good he was (and how much better he might have been sans injury) but I didn't realize he was that good.

As a lifelong Bradley fan I really appreciate these stories about our memorable Braves from the past and would love to see more of them. :)
 
wizard said:
The games were always competitive but great fun. Joe A. was great to play with or against. My young son used to come and watch and Joe was absolutely great with kids.
Click to expand...

What a nice article by KW. I remember Joe Allen as a BU assistant and a person who was great with kids at the Joe Stowell basketball camps when I was there. Somewhere, I have a picture of me posting up against Joe Allen at the camp. Need to find that picture! lol:)
 
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