People Search

Find an individual who either played a sport or was a member of a support group. Search by last name by clicking on the first letter of the person's last name.

---

<<  Return to Member List

Mr. Alonza Allen
Graduated 1986

Home:
100 W. Bluebird Drive
Lafayette, LA 70508

Work:
VOA
Stateman Rd.
Opelousas, LA

Home Phone: 337-658-7755
Work Phone: --
Fax: --
Email: alonzaallen@ymail.com

Alonza is currently the Assistant Administrator at the VOA Dayschool for juvenile offenders.
He is married to the former Colette Breaux and has a son and daughter.

Men’s Basketball: Former UL star’s children forge own paths on court

Kevin Foote
kfoote@theadvertiser.com

Neither his 18-year-old son Tristan nor his 16-year-old daughter Jean-Marie ever saw Alonza Allen play for the UL Ragin’ Cajuns during the glory years in the early 1980s.
Even his wife Colette had no interest in basketball until she met Alonza while they were UL students.

Alonza’s even tried to get Tristan to watch some old film of his Cajun games, but his son isn’t interested in watching game film from more than 20 years ago.

“He’s not interested,” Alonza laughed, “and I’m not going to force it on him.”
Jean-Marie hasn’t seen the tapes either, but has heard plenty of eyewitness testimony.

“People are always coming up to us and telling me how good he was or talking to him about when he played,” Jean-Marie said. “I think it’s cool to see that.”

Their lack of knowledge of their father’s career, however, fits nicely into the Allen family plans these days, with Tristan being the senior star on the Comeaux High boys basketball team and Jean-Marie a sophomore starter on the girls team.

It’s all about the kids anyway, and that’s a lot of basketball to watch for a mother who had no interest in athletics until her kids starting playing.

Last season, Alonza went to Tristan’s games when they conflicted, and Colette to Jean-Marie’s games. Alonza remembers a month ago attending the first half of the boys game at Lafayette High’s tournament, then the second half of the girls game at the Northside tournament.

“We never pressured the kids into basketball,” Alonza said. “They just love it. We’ve really made it into a family outing each time.”

The truth is that Colette rarely finishes a game anyway.

“Very seldom do I watch a whole game,” she said. “I get too nervous. I go stand outside.”

Tristan said he never sees his mother leave but hears about it.

“I think it’s funny,” Jean-Marie said.

The one thing that isn’t fun and games in the Allen household is school work, and apparently both kids have got the message loud and clear. Tristan has a 3.0 grade point average and made a 23 on the ACT. Jean-Marie has a 3.75 grade point average and made a 23 on the ACT as a freshman.

She said it’s her goal to get to a 27 by her senior year.

“I’m glad they’ve had some successes in basketball, but there are other things that matter more,” said Colette, who teaches English III at Comeaux High. “You must have a plan-B. That’s what they never show in the newspaper, what happens to a lot of these players after the cheering stops.”

Asked what would happen if he brought home bad grades, Tristan didn’t hesitate.

“If I did it too often, I wouldn’t be playing basketball any more,” he said.

His father later nodded in agreement.

Like most kids, there would be no hiding it from his mother anyway, because she’s his homeroom teacher.

“That’s right,” she said. “I see his grades before he does.”

It’s very possible, though, that Tristan may be able to put off his Plan-B for a while. Not on any recruiting list a year ago, Tristan’s performance so far this year has begged for attention at 25 points a game for the 16-7 Spartans.

Centenary has showed some interest and other schools are expected to follow.

“I didn’t know what to expect after last year, so I worked hard at all the positions I thought I could advance at,” Tristan said. “It’s been a lot more fun this year. When we’d lose last year, I really didn’t look forward to coming to school the next day. It’s a lot more fun this year.

“I still need to get better at my jumping, ball handling and shooting.”

Alonza came to the Cajuns as a prep All-American out of Lakeland, Fla. in 1980. He scored more than 1,200 points as a prolific dunk specialist and played on teams that had a combined 84-38 record with two NCAA tournament trips and one NIT Final Four appearance.

“I’ve always worked with him on dribbling up the court with his left hand so he can make his move with his strongest hand,” Alonza said. “I really thought he could average 19 or 20 points this year. This system is more suited for him.

“I’ve told him that I was an All-American, and he’s got more skills than I had at this age. He can shoot and handle it. The only thing I could do was jump.”

As for Jean-Marie, she developed a fierce determination to succeed by trying to keep up with her older brother.

“He would never let me win,” she said. “My father would tell me not to get mad and that there wouldn’t be any girls as big as Tristan is, but I wasn’t thinking about that back then. It just made me mad. No matter what, though, I wouldn’t give up. No, you never give up.”

Apparently some of the frustration paid off. She lettered as a freshman and is currently averaging six points and six rebounds for the 11-11, 3-0 Lady Spartans. Like her older brother, she hopes to finish her basketball career in college.

She’s also proven to be one of his biggest fans.

“I yell a lot during his games, and my voice really carries,” Jean-Marie said. “If I see him do something wrong, I yell. I know he gets mad at me. But he’s really having a great season this year.”

For those who don’t need an old game film to see how Allen played, but have lost track of him since his playing days, he played one year with teammate Dion Brown in Venezuela.

The couple then lived in Lakeland for five years. Later his wife, formerly Colette Breaux, a Comeaux graduate, whose father Sidney was a middle school coach here, convinced her husband to move back to Lafayette in 1992.

“I consider Lafayette my home now,” Alonza said.

His career is working with juveniles in law enforcement. He currently works at the Volunteers of American alternative school in Opelousas.

And then there’s that unofficial occupation of following the careers of two high school athletes.

Originally published Jan. 5, 2007.

Men’s Basketball: PrepBlog: Interviewing Allen Family was a rare treat

Kevin Foote
kfoote@theadvertiser.com

I did a bit of an unusual feature Thursday, interviewing an entire family for the story.
It was the Allen Family, including Comeaux High boys standout Tristan, sophomore Lady Spartans� starter Jean-Marie, Comeaux High English teacher Colette and former UL Ragin� Cajun standout Alonza Allen.
I enjoyed interviewing Colette. Her passion for her kids to do well in school is certainly commendable and it was funny hearing how she can�t hardly watch her kids play because she�s so nervous.
Jean-Marie was very impressive. Here�s a girl who made a 17 on the ACT as a seventh-grader, made a 23 as a freshman and is headed for her goal of a 27 by the time she�s a senior.
Tristan has that determined look. Plus, after all the losses that came the Spartans� way last season, he�s just happy to be winning some games.
The real fun, though, was talking to Alonza. I�ve been in this business for 23 years now and have interviewed athletes ranging from Hank Aaron to high school state championship heroes, but this was different. Those were working interviews of athletes doing things during his time as a reporter.
Allen played for the Ragin� Cajuns in the early 1980s when I was in high school and a huge Cajun basketball fan. It�s not that way anymore, but the Cajuns were as important to me personally then as the Saints and Astros are now.
I might have put them No. 1 on that list back then.
Before the serious questions came about his talented children, I was Kevin Foote the 16-year-old talking to Alonza Allen. We talked for a while about some of the players he played with and some of the games and some of his dunks.
I admitted to him that Dion Brown was actually my favorite player on that team, but that team might be my favorite team of all time in any sport.
He was quick to give me the details of why he bounced the ball off the court and the backboard for a dunk against Fredonia State. His family was there for the first time. And yes, Bobby Paschal told him that it was a great play, but to never do it again.
Maybe it was my imagination, but he actually seemed to enjoy talking about his glory days.
I sure did.

Originally published Jan. 5, 2007