Howard Allen

Langston High, Danville

Howard “Hank” Allen was born in Dolphin, VA, attended public schools in Englewood, NJ and graduated from Hampton Institute (now University). He excelled in basketball, baseball and soccer in high school and was captain of the basketball and soccer teams at Hampton. He was selected as an All-CIAA basketball player in 1940. After receiving a Master’s Degree at New York University, he began his teaching career at Langston High in 1952. In 17 years as a basketball coach, he never had a losing season and won more than 70 percent of his games in compiling almost 300 wins. His teams played in 11 VIA Western District finals, appeared in four VIA State Semifinals, was State Runner-up twice and won the final VIA State Basketball Championship in 1969. Coach Allen’s baseball teams won seven District Championships and were VIA State Champions in 1957, 1958 and 1964. Upon the integration of public schools after 1969, Coach Allen joined the staff of the University of Virginia’s Consultative Resource Center which was dedicated to the support of desegregation efforts in the state of Virginia. In 1973 he earned the Doctor of Education Degree at UVA. Dr. Allen’s former players give strong testimony on his contributions to the development of young men as much as his abilities as a winning coach. He passed in June 2012.