Ex-Cowboys, 49ers great Larry Allen dies at age 52

Larry Allen, a Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive lineman with extensive Bay Area ties from Sonoma State to the 49ers to the East Bay, passed away Sunday. He was 52.

Allen died suddenly while on a family vacation in Mexico, as announced Monday by the Dallas Cowboys, for whom he excelled as a guard from 1994-2005.

Upon graduating from Vintage High in Napa, Allen played Butte Junior College and Sonoma State before the Cowboys selected him in the second round of the 1994 draft. He made the Pro Bowl 11 times, was named to the AP All-Pro first team six times and played out his NFL career with the 49ers from 2006-07.

“My goal was simple, to earn a seven-word letter called ‘respect,’” Allen said in his 2013 enshrinement speech at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. “The respect of my teammates, opponents, and the NFL.  Today, my mission is complete. I also played hard, whistle to whistle, to make my opponents submit.  And today, I’m submitting to you. I just can’t wait to see my buddies.”

He was a longtime East Bay resident. He owned a home in the Blackhawk region of Danville with his wife, Janelle, as they raised their daughters Jayla and Lorianna and son, Larry III, the latter of whom played football at De La Salle High-Concord and Harvard.

“Larry, known for his great athleticism and incredible strength, was one of the most respected, accomplished offensive linemen to ever play in the NFL,” the Cowboys said in a statement. “His versatility and dependability were also signature parts of his career. Through that, he continued to serve as inspiration for many other players, defining what it meant to be a great teammate, competitor and winner. He was deeply loved and cared for by his wife, Janelle — whom he referred to as his heart and soul — his daughters Jayla and Loriana and son, Larry III.”

Born in Los Angeles, Allen grew up in Compton and didn’t start playing football until his junior year at Centennial High.

Allen (6-foot-3, 325 pounds) became a near-perennial Pro Bowl pick by the third season of his NFL career, all the way through his first season with the Mike Nolan-coached 49ers.

“When he’d go in the game, he’d look to coach and say, ‘Run (expletive) here,’ ” running back Frank Gore said in 2013, ahead of Allen’s Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony. “They’d call the play, and we’d be successful. I’m happy to say I played with him.”

Gore ran for a career-high 1,695 yards in that 2006 season with Allen at left guard.

Left tackle Joe Staley joined the 49ers in 2007 and quickly got tips from Allen, which he recalled in 2013: “It was my fifth day of training camp, and I had gotten beat about 10 times in a row on 1-on-1s. I was real passive and intimidated by everybody. After I get beat another time, (Allen) goes in his booming voice, ‘Hey rook, (expletive) punch him.’ So I did the next time, whoever it was, and it worked. (Allen) says, ‘Was that so hard?’”