It was early 1992 when Larry Martin reached out to Greg Allen, first by letter and then again by phone. Martin wanted to know if Allen was interested in returning to Syracuse University for a Coming Back Together reunion.

It had been nearly 20 years since Allen, who played football at SU, had graduated from the university. He hadn’t been back since.

But he accepted Martin’s offer, coming back to Syracuse with five other members of the Syracuse 8. Since returning to the Hill, he’s become an active member of the community and now co-owns the new brick-oven pizza shop on Marshall Street.

Allen was a member of the “Syracuse 8” — a group of nine black players who boycotted spring football practice in 1970, citing racial discrimination in the program. The group was referred by local media as the “Syracuse 8,” and the name stuck.

After sitting out the 1970 season, Allen returned to the team in 1971. At that point, the team had undergone some changes at the request of the administration, rather than the coaches.

He graduated in 1973, with the boycott and feelings of bitterness fresh in his mind.

Even though his place in the Syracuse 8 is immortalized at the university, Allen said his identity has become more than the events that transpired so many years ago.

***

After the Syracuse 8 players sat out of spring practice, SU head coach Floyd ‘Ben’ Schwartzwalder suspended them at the start of the 1970 season. The players were reinstated for the season’s first game but feeling unsatisfied, they reverted to boycotting after that game.

During the boycott, Schwartzwalder invited three players back to the team, said John Lobon, a fellow Syracuse 8 member. Allen was the only one of the three who didn’t accept the offer.

Allen didn’t feel he was above the other players, saying that if the Syracuse 8 were all committing a so-called offense, then they would endure the punishment together.

“Of course I was elated about being invited back and wanted to go back, but I didn’t think it was fair for me to go back and not the others,” he said, referring to the six members not invited back.

After the season ended, SU’s Committee on Allegations of Racial Discrimination in the Football Program suggested changes to the athletic department, which then-Chancellor John Corbally approved.

Allen didn’t go on to play football professionally, but Allen said he thinks he could have if not for the color of his skin.

“Of course there are always different sets of circumstances,” he said. “But if you were to ask me if I think I had the ability, yes I do.”

Instead, Allen bounced around a few jobs — including hosting a radio show in Hartford, Connecticut — before landing at Liberty Mutual, an insurance company, for 33 years. For about half his time at the company, Allen remained disconnected from his alma mater.

***

In 1992, the Office of Program Development at SU had a planning session for Coming Back Together, a reunion held every three years geared to welcoming back African-American and Latino alumni to Syracuse.

At the session, Robert Boney, then-vice president of undergraduate studies at SU, pitched the idea to invite back the Syracuse 8. Martin was the one tasked with reaching out individually to the former players and he said he wasn’t sure whether or not they would accept the invitation.

But after discussing it, Allen and five other Syracuse 8 members decided it was worth coming back. Both Allen and Lobon said they initially felt some animosity upon returning, but when the Syracuse 8 were introduced at the reunion’s dinner gala, they received a standing ovation.

Since then, Allen has been an active member of Syracuse’s community. He’s now directly involved with Coming Back Together and serves on the School of Education’s Visitors Board.

In September 2005, during a Coming Back Together weekend, Allen participated in a panel with the other Syracuse 8 members. They discussed the boycott in-depth, revealing what was going on when they weren’t a part of the team.

“It was very powerful,” Martin said. “And because of that, a number of people who attended the session, they advocated for these guys and said, ‘We ought to officially recognize them.’”

And so, in 2006, the school honored Allen, along with the other members of the Syracuse 8, with the Chancellor’s Medal for Extraordinary Courage.

***

Dave Jacobs, who was SU’s placekicker in the late 70s, knew of Allen from his time on SU’s football team. So when Allen stopped into Shirt World, Jacobs’ apparel store on Marshall Street, they “hit it off” almost immediately, Jacobs said. The two have been friends ever since.

Last fall, Allen got a call from Jacobs, who wanted to know if he was interested in joining him as a co-owner of a new pizza shop.

After thinking it over, Allen decided to jump in. He felt he could trust Jacobs and Jeff Smith, the third co-owner. That trust and the location of the pizza shop on Marshall Street were the main reasons he made the decision.

Allen will visit the pizzeria for the first time on Oct. 23, when he’ll also be signing copies of “Leveling the Playing Field,” a new book about the Syracuse 8, published by the university.

It’s a long way, Allen said, from where he once stood with Syracuse.

“I just think it’s important for people to understand that there’s no bitterness or animosity about the events that transpired in the past,” he said. “The university has moved on and has tried to reconcile with us.

“And I feel reconciled with the university,” Allen said.

Published on September 22, 2015 at 11:02 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu