By Harry Minium

Former Old Dominion basketball coach Sonny Allen, who built the foundation for ODU's successful Division I program, won the University's first team national championship and integrated Virginia college basketball, will finally be enshrined into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

Will Driscoll, director of the hall of fame, announced Tuesday morning that Allen will be inducted on April 30, 2022 during a ceremony at the Westin Hotel at Town Center in Virginia Beach.

Allen joins former University of Virginia football defensive star Anthony Poindexter, former Ferrum track and football star Chris Warren and Jon Lugbill, a U.Va. graduate who won or helped win 15 world titles in whitewater canoeing, as four members of a special class of 2022 inductees.

The hall of fame has yet to induct the class of 2020 because of the pandemic. The seven members of that class, including WAVY-TV sportscaster Bruce Rader, Olympic pole vault medalist Lawrence Johnson from Chesapeake and former New York Mets star David Wright, will also be inducted on April 30.

Dennis Ellmer, the President and CEO of Priority Automotive and one of ODU's most generous donors, will be presented with the Steve Guback Distinguished Virginian Award Recipient.


Sonny Allen with Dave Twardzik

Because of the pandemic, the hall of fame did not have a class of 2021.

Allen died in September of 2020 and was survived by his wife, Donna, and four children, son, Billy; daughters Jackie Eldrenkamp, Kelly Marcantel and Jennifer Allen; and step-children Jimmy Warner and Tedi Holdmann.

Billy Allen issued a statement on behalf of the family thanking the hall of fame and ODU Athletic Director Wood Selig.

Selig authorized a campaign by ODU in 2019 to push for Allen's induction and wrote a column published in the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press recently that Driscoll said resonated with the selection committee.

"Our family is extremely grateful for our Dad's induction into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame," Billy Allen said. "We can't tell you how thankful we are for all the support, especially from the ODU family and Wood Selig, who worked so hard to make this happen.

"Our Dad lived a wonderful life and had an amazing story and we're honored that he is right there with the great legends in Virginia sports history.

"This induction has truly brought joy to our entire family."



Selig said he was thrilled to learn Allen will be inducted.

"Whenever I spoke with anyone about Sonny Allen's candidacy for the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame the response was always the same, 'Isn't he already in there?'" Selig said.

"Most people not only thought he was deserving of the recognition but also that he had already been inducted.

"I am thrilled for the Allen family and all of their friends who have hoped for this announcement and opportunity for induction. Thank you to the hall of fame committee for making such a wonderful selection of a deserving and forward-thinking man."

Allen was born into poverty in Moundsville, W.Va., where his mom was left to take care of five children after his father deserted the family. Sonny was just three when his father left and the deprivations of his childhood gave him an intense determination to succeed.

Allen was a high school basketball star but like most kids in Moundsville, got a job in the local steel mill after graduation. But he only worked there a year. He lived at home, saved his money and, after a year, walked onto the Marshall University basketball team without a scholarship.


Sonny Allen carries daughter Jennifer after 1975 NCAA tournament

He was so good that first season that a year later he was on a full scholarship and roomed with future NBA star Hal Greer, who was African-American. He came to ODU in 1965 after five years as Marshall's freshman coach.

After Allen was offered the Old Dominion job, he asked Athletic Director Bud Metheny if he could recruit Black players. Although most institutions in the South were segregated, Allen's life of poverty, and the time he spend with Hal Greer, made him a passionate advocate for equal rights.

Had Metheny said no, Allen said he would have declined the job. But Metheny said yes and Arthur "Buttons" Speakes, a guard from Huntington, West Virginia, became the first Black player to join the roster of a predominantly white basketball team in Virginia.

Speakes played on the freshman team and endured taunts on the road. He had to sleep in the gym at Hampden-Sydney because hotels in Farmville were not integrated.

He was joined his sophomore season by Bob Pritchett, a Black junior college player, and in 1966-67, they became the first Black players to play on a college varsity basketball team for a predominantly white school in Virginia.


Sonny Allen, Indiana's Bobby Knight in 1975

"Sonny was a true groundbreaker," said Speakes, who now resides in Atlanta. "We had some difficult experiences playing on the road in our time at Old Dominion but Sonny always took care of us.

"He promised my mom that he'd take care of me and he really did."

Allen was an innovative coach who believed up-tempo, fast-break basketball was the best way to win. He wrote a book called "The Sonny Allen Fast Break" that became a must-read for many college coaches.

"He had a way of simplifying things, and he simplified the fast break," said Dave Twardzik, who was a Division II All-American under Allen who went on to a long career in the ABA and NBA.

As part of simplifying the fast break, he numbered each player – No. 1 for the point guard, No. 2 for the shooting guard, etc., and that numbering system is used by virtually every basketball team around the world.

His fast-break was adopted by Indiana's Bobby Knight, who called Sonny the nation's premiere expert on offensive basketball.


Sonny Allen as a young boy

His ODU teams never averaged less than 83 points per game and in 1971-72, Twardzik's senior year, the Monarchs averaged 95.2 points per game.

In 1967, Pritchett scored 67 points, the most ever scored by a Monarch in a single game, in a 152-110 victory over Richmond Professional Institute, which later became VCU.

When Allen arrived at Old Dominion, the Monarchs had only a handful of scholarships and played in front of small crowds against schools such as Lynchburg, Bridgewater, Randolph Macon and Hampden-Sydney, all now Division III schools.

By his seventh season, 1970-71, the Monarchs defeated Tulane, Auburn and Southern Mississippi and were playing in front of sellout crowds in the 4,800-seat ODU Fieldhouse. They also advanced to the Division II national championship game, losing at Evansville to the home team, 97-82.

In 1975, the Monarchs went back to Evansville and won three games in three nights, the last a 76-74 victory over New Orleans, to win the Division II national championship.

Allen then left to take the head coaching job at SMU. But players from his last ODU team, including Joey Caruthers, Wilson Washington and Jeff Fuhrmann, formed the nucleus of the University's first Division I team in 1976-77, when coach Paul Webb led the Monarchs to 22 victories in a row and an NIT tournament bid.


Sonny Allen cutting down the nets after 1975 national title 

Allen was 181-94 at ODU and was 613-383 overall as a coach. He took both SMU and Nevada to the NCAA Tournament.

When ODU began its campaign to get Allen inducted in 2019, his candidacy was endorsed by Gov. Ralph Northam, then ODU President John R. Broderick, Norfolk Mayor Kenny Alexander and former NFL star Bruce Smith.

Four hall of fame coaches – Larry Brown, George Raveling, Dale Brown and Paul Westhead – all wrote letters of support to the hall of fame. So did ODU head coach Jeff Jones and assistant coach Bryant Stith, who is a member of the hall of fame.

Allen expressed disappointment when the campaign failed to sway the hall of fame committee.

Twardzik said Allen's induction "was long overdue."

"I have lobbied for Sonny to be inducted into the hall of fame for many, many years. They kept telling me that they had such a strong class he just didn't quite make it," Twardzik said.

"But over such a long period of time, I got frustrated.


Sonny Allen with son Billy at 1975 NCAA final in Evansville, Indiana

"He built the foundation for Old Dominion basketball in a short amount of time. For him to take a program to the NCAA finals in such a short amount of time was unheard of."

Allen was the only coach to offer Twardzik a scholarship after seeing him play in a postseason tournament in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

"For me, without Sonny, I have no idea what I'd be or what I'd be doing," he said. "Sonny had such a huge impact on my life.

"He was the best. The thing about Sonny is in all the years I knew him, I never heard him raise his voice or utter a curse word.
"I loved the guy."

Twardzik later hired Allen as a scout when he worked for NBA teams in Orlando, Charlotte and Golden State.

Speakes also expressed frustration that it took so long for Allen to be inducted.

"It's been such a long time coming," he said. "I wish they had done it while he was alive.

"He put Old Dominion on the map. And his basketball prowess was second to none. Honestly, we shouldn't have even been in the gym with some of the teams we
played and some of the teams we beat. We scored so many points and just think if we'd had the 3-point shot.

"Like I said, I wished they'd done it while he was alive, but it is what it is. He was a great man and I know how much this means for his family."

Billy Allen acknowledged shedding tears when he received a recent call from Driscoll to inform him his father would be inducted. So did most of Allen's other children.

Billy Allen said all of Allen's children plan to come to the induction ceremony, as will some of his eight grandchildren and eight great grandchildren and wife, Donna. Many family members also plan to visit ODU on Thursday, Feb. 3., when ODU hosts Marshall.



The family will be introduced to the crowd on the court.

"My dad thought the world of ODU and had such fond memories of his time here," Billy Allen said.

"We're so grateful what everyone there has done for our family."

Tickets for the induction ceremony, set for 5:30 p.m. on April 30, are $50 and include an open bar and heavy hors d'oeuvres. There will be a breakfast event that morning at 9 a.m. with hall of fame inductees and their families available to answer questions and sign autographs. Tickets are $15 and include a breakfast buffet and a chance to bring in two items to be autographed.

To purchase tickets, or learn more about the event, go to www.vasportshof.com