THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501130249
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 32 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Lee Tolliver
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
Welcome to the shrine.
Kevin Allen's tribute to the Dallas Cowboys is sports fanaticism at its most crazed.
What we have here is a hodgepodge of collector's items. There are posters, photographs taken by Allen, mementos, rings, coins, miniature helmets, plaques, Wheaties boxes, and more - all laid out in neat fashion in a room with a Cowboys wallpaper ceiling banner.
And it is located right in the Chimney Hill resident's den - 365 days a year.
But this is the time of year when the room becomes a temple of worship.
It's playoff time, and once again the Cowboys are in the hunt. And with Allen, post season is a time of football parties. Anti-Cowboy fans are allowed, but in the past two years, they have had little to cheer about.
When Dallas takes on San Francisco in today's NFC title game, the Cowboys will be battling for the chance to become the first team in Super Bowl history to three-peat.
Green Bay, Pittsburgh and Miami have tried and failed.
Nothing would make Allen happier than for the Cowboys to become the first.
``Dallas, 27-24,'' he predicts calmly for today's outcome. ``Then they make history in the Super Bowl.''
During the games, and basically year-round, Allen dresses in his finest Cowboys garb - bedroom slippers, pants, shirt, hat, ring.
So what caused a seemingly normal person to become so engulfed in the support of his favorite football team?
The 1977 Princess Anne High graduate isn't sure.
``I think I first started cheering for the Cowboys around 1966, watching football games with my dad,'' the driver for MANCON said. ``He was a Redskins fan and it just seemed to be a natural rival for us. It was all in fun, but I really started to like the Cowboys.''
Since then, Allen has painstakingly gone about the task of collecting his items.
``I've always been a serious fan, but I really didn't have a place to put it all up until I moved here about six years ago,'' Allen, 37, said. ``I decorated the den right from the start.''
Although nothing in his collection is high-dollar, it is a simple little foam football that is most valued by Allen.
With a Cowboy emblem on one side, the football features the scribbled signatures of several former and present players acquired during his nine trips to Dallas games.
``I started it at Tony Dorsett's bar and at one of the hotels the team was staying at,'' Allen said. ``I guess that means more to me than anything.''
But not more than Dallas beating San Francisco today.
Spike this: As if it's a secret to anyone, Virginia Beach volleyball is fast becoming the kind of popular sport it probably should have been a long time ago.
With the introduction of volleyball as a scholastic sport three years ago in the middle schools for girls and last year for varsity boys and girls, the sport has gotten more and more attention.
With that, the local Junior Olympic program at the Tidewater Volleyball Association is becoming increasingly important.
Owen Dixon, a former All-Navy player and now girls coach at Salem and Catholic highs, is in his fifth year as director of the local program. He also coaches the top 18-under girls team at TVA.
He has seen the program grow from 95 athletes last year to more than 150 this winter.
``The high schools help make the program popular and the program helps make the high schools better,'' Dixon said. ``The girls program has been more successful, but that's only because it has been around a little longer. We're seeing more guys coming out and they are getting pretty good at the game.''
Dixon likens the relationship to that of the Boo Williams AAU basketball program with the top players at local high schools.
``When you have both working together, the skill level rises,'' he said.
The TVA program has produced three regional champion teams - two of which have competed in the national girls tournament.
Tryouts for the 10-under, 12-under, 14-under, 16-under and 18-under boys and girls teams will conclude today at the Tidewater Volleyball Center on Dean Drive in Virginia Beach. The fee to join the program is $225.
For information, call the center at 498-5052 or Dixon at 467-8514.
What a kick: The 15 members of the Atlantic Travel Soccer Club U-17 Azzurri Team were recognized for their season of achievements at a recent awards banquet.
Awards went to Ryan Clukey, most improved; Neil Waters, sportsmanship; Josh Morgan, most valuable player, offense; Chris Lane, most valuable player, defense; Gordon Peters, coaches' award; and Craig Collins, player of the year.
Also recognized were goalkeepers Colin Kibler and Mike O'Konek; forwards Scott Danner, Chris Ginty and Jason Harrington; mid-fielders Daniel Spence and Joey Franco and fullbacks Sean Conner and Rich Dubose.
The team, coached by Don Hart, finished second in Division Two of the SEVYSA League with a 23-7-2 record.
Keep 'em rollin': Jon Stites has been honored by the Norfolk Bowling Association as the top bowler in South Hampton Roads. The 1990 graduate of Kellam High became a professional bowler in 1993. His overall average at the time of the award was 219.5. MEMO: Got an interesting sports-related story to tell? If so, call The Beacon
at 490-7228 and let us know about it, or write to The Beacon, Sports
Department, 4565 Virginia Beach Blvd., Virginia Beach, Va. 23462. The
fax number is 490-7235.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by PETER D. SUNDBERG
Kevin Allen's Chimney Hill den is a hodgepodge of Cowboy posters,
personal photographs, mementos, rings, coins, miniature helmets,
plaques, Wheaties boxes and wallpaper.
by CNB