Clifford Allen

Clifford Allen was a basketball phenomenon whose size, speed, power, and finesse had college coaches drooling. So tremendous was his talent, he was one of the top college prospects in the nation in 1985, even though he had never played in high school, based on his play in summer tournaments alone. After signing a letter of intent with the University of Nevada-Las Vegas on November 12, 1985, Allen, who had his first run-in with the law at age 12, was assigned to the California Youth Authority facility in Paso Robles. He was finally able to enroll at UNLV in 1987, but, as he would not be allowed to play until his sophomore year due to academic ineligibility, he refused to attend classes. Jerry Tarkanian had his assistant coach named Allen's legal guardian, who enrolled him at a junior college in Texas in an effort to boost his grades. But by all accounts, Allen simply refused to apply himself. He never played for UNLV. After he dropped out of two other schools - and added two more arrests to his rap sheet - his girlfriend convinced him to end the charade of being a student-athlete. He traveled to Florida to try out for the Pensacola Tornados of the Continental Basketball Association. On September 14, 1989, he was arrested and charged with the murder of Conrad Owens, a high school guidance counselor. Allen, who driving Owens's car when he was stopped by police, claimed Owens tried to sexually-assault him. He plead no contest to second-degree murder on May 16, 1990, and was sentenced to 45 years in prison at Wakulla Correctional Institution (Crawfordville, FL) Allen was released from prison on October 27, 2013.