(Los Angeles) Former Dallas Cowboys star Larry Allen died suddenly at the age of 52 while vacationing in Mexico, the American football franchise (NFL) announced on Monday.
A player with an imposing physique (1.91 m and 147 kg), Allen was one of the architects of the Cowboys’ last victory in the Super Bowl, in 1996. In total, he played twelve seasons with Dallas (1994-2005) before his transfer to the 49ers of San Francisco (2006-2007), where he retired from sports.
Allen, the Texas franchise wrote in a statement, was “one of the most respected and accomplished offensive linemen to ever play in the NFL.”
Allen was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame upon his first nomination in 2013, and was a regular on All-Decade Teams in the 1990s and 2000s.
“The NFL is full of talented athletes, but only a handful of athletes have combined the size, brute strength, speed and agility of Larry Allen,” Hall of Fame President Jim Porter said in a statement.