Allgood bringing NFL alumni to Charles Boehm
BucksLocalSports Editor A trip to a baseball game spurred a 2011 visit to a local school by a former Super Bowl champion that led to a group of NFL alumni playing in an upcoming charity basketball game.
It all started last summer at a Trenton Thunder baseball game when Marianne Mariani and some fellow Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School PTO members struck up a conversation with Lonnie Allgood, a wide receiver from Syra- cuse drafted in 1976 by the Cincinnati Bengals.
Allgood heard of the PTO’s effort to raise money through a football raffle the organization was holding. So he volunteered the services of another NFL alum in former Steelers linebacker Rian Wallace who won a Super Bowl with Pittsburgh in 2006.
Wallace took turns quarterbacking both sides that day on the grounds at ER. Now, he and an entire group of former players that includes former Eagles wide receiver Reggie Brown and former Steelers linebacker Joey Porter are getting ready to face off in a charity basketball game Oct. 27 at Charles Boehm Middle School.
While Allgood didn’t win any Super Bowls or make it on to any All-Pro lists in the NFL, he’s proud of the fact that he worked hard enough on the gridiron to earn an athletic scholarship to Syracuse, earn a degree in sociology and be selected to play in the NFL.
At an early age, Lonnie learned how far hard work and dedication can take you. When his six-year career with the New Orleans Saints and the Buffalo Bills ended, Allgood decided he wanted to spread that message to America’s youth. For more than a decade now, he’s spent his time directing his non-profit community outreach group called “Dreams For Kids.”
Dreams For Kids touts more than 120 current and former professional athletes, all of whom Allgood says are role models for the community. In an effort to raise money for his organization, Lonnie lines up teams of his gridiron warriors and pits them against local all-stars. Revenues generated from the games are evenly split with local groups, in this case, ER.
Founded a dozen years ago by Allgood, Dreams For Kids teaches children to stay on the straight and narrow -- stay away from drugs and alcohol, work hard in school, respect your parents and teachers.
Working through Dreams