Allen a hero for Seattle football fans
When the Seattle Seahawks were threatening to move to Southern California in 1996, Seattle fans were hoping for a miracle for the team to be kept in the Emerald City.
As Seattle Times columnist Larry Stone put it Monday, the Seahawks’ knight in shining armor was Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul Allen.
Allen, who died Monday at 65 of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, bought the Seahawks in 1997 after voters agreed to fund a new downtown stadium, which is now CenturyLink Field.
“The stadium that resulted in 2002 — which Allen directed to be designed acoustically to replicate the deafening Husky Stadium of his youth — is part of his legacy. So is the reign of coach Mike Holmgren, who brought the Seahawks to their first Super Bowl, and coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider, who led them to two more, including the title in the 2013 season,” Stone wrote.
“By all accounts, Allen has the perfect attributes of an owner — the commitment to supply all the resources the franchise needs to compete, coupled with the willingness to let his football people do their jobs without meddling.
“Oh, Schneider would compile a report after each game for Allen, with an evaluation of players and a variety of notes. And when Allen attended a game, he would seek out Carroll beforehand to get a feel for the game plan and the team’s mood. But for the most part, he was hands-off, except for the wallet he opened to lure top free agents and provide first-class facilities.
“Mostly, though, Allen’s sporting legacy in Seattle is the unity that the Seahawks have brought to the region. As King County Council member Pete von Reichbauer points out, after the Super Bowl triumph in New Jersey you could walk the streets of Seattle and see first-generation families from India, Eastern Europe and Asia all wearing Seahawks gear.
“Sports brings people, and cultures, together, and Paul understood that,” von Reichbauer said. “I’ve watched sports here my whole life, and I guarantee no team ever captured the heart and soul of this region as the Seahawks did under him.”