Paul Gutierrez, ESPN Staff Writer 6y

Walter Abercrombie, Barry Redden or Marcus Allen? The Raiders chose right

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- The room was undecided.

Not on what position the Raiders wanted in the first round of the 1982 draft; they wanted a running back. But after their top two choices were already gone in Stanford's Darrin Nelson and Arizona State's Gerald Riggs, the Raiders were at a crossroads at pick No. 10.

Some in the room wanted Baylor's Walter Abercrombie. The name of Richmond's Barry Redden came up. The rest? They were keen on the reigning Heisman Trophy winner from USC. Guy by the name of Marcus Allen.

Thus began the most memorable draft moment in Raiders franchise history.

Especially since Al Davis was not in the Raiders' draft room. Rather, the iconoclast owner was in court in Los Angeles, trying to finalize things for his team's impending move to Southern California.

"He had to come out and talk to us on a payphone," then-Raiders coach Tom Flores said of Davis with a laugh. "He said, 'Is that who you want? Fine.'"

Meanwhile, on a couch in his San Diego home, Allen smiled and uttered softly, "I like it, I like it," after his name was called on television by commissioner Pete Rozelle.

And after receiving the congratulatory welcome phone call from the Raiders, Allen, rocking a dark blue Fila sweat suit, announced to his gathering, "I'm an Oakland Raider" before throwing a newspaper up in the air in celebration.

Except ...

Allen would never play as an Oakland Raider, what with the team's SoCal sojourn. He would, though, be the face of the Los Angeles Raiders from 1982 through 1992, racking up individual awards and the esteem of his teammates as a six-time winner of the team's Commitment to Excellence Award.

It all started on his first day as a rookie.

"Who walks into a locker room and you have Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, Cliff Branch, Jim Plunkett, Ted Hendricks?" Allen said on his "A Football Life" documentary on the NFL Network.

"I didn't say one word going into camp. I was smart enough to know, 'You've already got a target on your back because you're the Heisman Trophy winner, you're the No. 1 draft pick, [so] don't open your mouth. Just go in there and work your tail off. That way, you can get the players to accept you.'"

Some analysts were not on the Allen bandwagon early -- Paul Maguire said with Allen's 4.5 40-speed the Raiders might move him to receiver and said, "he does fumble like crazy." Allen proved his critics wrong.

He was the 1982 NFL offensive rookie of the year after compiling 1,098 yards from scrimmage and led the league with 11 rushing touchdowns in the strike-shortened nine-game season.

He was Super Bowl XVIII MVP after running through defending champion Washington for a then-record 191 yards, including his iconic 74-yard reverse field TD run on the play known simply as 17 Bob Trey O.

"I already had a call from Moscow," President Ronald Reagan told Flores on a phone call after the game. "They think that Marcus Allen is a new secret weapon and they insist that we dismantle him."

Allen was NFL MVP in 1985, when he led the league in yards from scrimmage (2,314), rushing yards (1,759) and rushing yards per game (109.9).

But after that MVP campaign, Allen saw Davis bring in a stable of running backs, from Vance Mueller to Napoleon McCallum to Bo Jackson to Greg Bell to Roger Craig to Nick Bell to Eric Dickerson.

And despite being relegated to the role of fullback from 1987 through 1990 and essentially being benched in 1991 and 1992, at the height of his still unexplained feud with Davis, (some say Davis did not like Allen becoming the face of the franchise, others say Allen wanting to carry the ball more tweaked Davis, while a certain faction believe Davis did not like Allen's relationship with O.J. Simpson and his inner circle) Allen's name still dots the Raiders' record book.

Allen, who returned to the Raiders' fold in 2012 by lighting the Al Davis Torch at the behest of the late owner's son Mark, is still the Raiders' all-time leading rusher with 8,545 yards and 79 career rushing TDs.

His 18 total TDs in 1984 remain a single-season franchise record as are his 11 straight 100-yard rushing games in 1985 and his 22 100-yard rushing games over his career. Allen's three 1,000-yard rushing seasons are tied with Mark van Eeghen for most such seasons in Raiders history and no Raiders rookie has rushed for more yards than Allen did with his 697 in 1982.

And after playing the final five years of his career with the rival Kansas City Chiefs, Allen is one of 25 Pro Football Hall of Famers the Raiders recognize as one of their own. Allen went into Canton in 2003 in his first year of eligibility.

"I spent 25 seasons with the Raiders," Ron Wolf, the former Raiders personnel executive and Hall of Famer, said on that NFL Network special on Allen. "Of all the people that ever came through during the time that I was there somebody has to be No. 1. Marcus Allen was No. 1. He's the best player during my time with the Raiders that I've ever seen."

Good thing for all involved, then, that saner heads prevailed in that split Raiders draft room in 1982.

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