Hughes Springs’ Allen inducted into Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame

Ronnie Allen has been down a road not many have walked. Come to think of it he didn’t walk it much himself….he ran.

Allen was born on Jan. 5, 1949, in Linden, Texas. Back in those days there wasn’t much to do but run around.

“Growing up we didn’t have a lot to do so we just ran all over the place,” Allen said. “Although I grew up in Hughes Springs, I really got my feel for running when I visited my family in Linden. I would run up and down that dirt road my family lived off of.”

When it was time for him to go to school, Allen attended segregated, all-Black Traylor High School for three years.

It was that point in time where he applied his childhood love for running to competing against others in real contests.

“When we ran around as children, we ran on dirt and grass. When it came to competition running, we ran on cinder tracks,” Allen said. “Not many schools had tracks in those days, so we traveled over to Daingerfield to practice on theirs.”

While at Traylor, Allen excelled in track and as a freshman won enough races in the 220-yard-dash to attend the 1964 track state championship at Prairie View A&M.

Allen was plagued by injuries his sophomore and junior year so he transferred to newly integrated Hughes Springs High School in hopes of getting a track scholarship so he could attend college.

“I was treated differently when I arrived at Hughes Springs High School. Those were the days we lived in then, but I wanted to go to college, so I transferred there to try and get a scholarship,” Allen said.

“There were about 100 students combined at Traylor in grades one through 12. It was scary going from a school where you knew just about everyone to a school where you don’t know anyone,” Allen remarked.

Upon arriving at Hughes Springs High School, Allen made an instant impact when it came to running track.

“During my senior year at Hughes Springs no one beat me in the 220-yard-dash,” Allen said. “I also ran the 100-yard-dash but my specialty was the 220.”

“I never got too nervous or excited I just went out there and ran,” Allen said. “I try to live my life that way by just staying ahead of everything.”

The move to Hughes Springs High School paid off in ways Allen never imagined.

“At the regional meet in Denton I placed second in the 100-yard-dash and first in the 220-yard-dash which sent me to the state meet in Austin,” Allen remarked. “I placed fourth in the 100-yard-dash but won the 2A, 220-yard-dash title and set a new state record with a time of 21.6.”

That record stood for 17 years before it was broken. “Back in those days we ran in yards, not meters and on a cinder track not the new-age tracks so that tells you just how fast I was moving for that record to stand that long before being broken,” Allen said.

Not long after winning the 220, Allen received scholarship offers Pine Bluff Arkansas and Baylor University.

“Up until that time I had never heard of Baylor University,” Allen stated.

The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) is a historically black university located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Founded in 1873, it is the oldest HBCU (historically black colleges and universities) in the state of Arkansas.

But Allen chose to sign with Baylor and became the first Black student-athlete to earn a four-year scholarship for Baylor’s track and field program. While at Baylor, Allen was a three-time Southwest Conference champion and in his freshman year he won the 220-yard dash at the 1968 SWC outdoor meet in 21.1 seconds.

He also helped the 4x110-yard relay team win a meet with a school-record time of 40.6.

Allen ran with the best and beat the best and for his efforts was inducted into the 2024 Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame class on Nov. 1. “I found out about being inducted into the Baylor Hall of Fame from Coach Ford who called me from Paris, France because he was at the Olympics,” Allen said.

All-in-all Allen became the first African American awarded a four-year track scholarship at Baylor, was named the team’s Outstanding Freshman in ‘68, won the first of back-to-back Southwest Conference championships in the 220-yard-dash, ran a leg on the Bears’ SWC championship 4x110-yard relay team that set a then-school record of 40.6 seconds, set school records in the 220-yard dash (20.6) and 220, curved (20.7) and ran a career-best time of 9.3 seconds in the 100-yard-dash.

No wonder the wonder from Hughes Springs received a call to be in the Baylor Athletics Hall of Fame.