I would like to pass along my deepest sympathies to the family of Laurel Allen, a former area high school basketball standout and a wonderful young lady, who died last week at the age of 38 after a long bout with cancer. Allen was the founder and director of the Pursuit of Excellence Sports Foundation, an organization dedicated to mentoring young student-athletes in the St. Louis area.
I’ve known Laurel for the past 20 years, going all the way back to her playing days at Rosati-Kain High, where she was a three-year standout for the Kougars’ basketball team. Allen played college basketball for a short time, but she really found her true calling when she began to mentor young student-athletes of all ages.
Laurel was a special young woman who had a gift for reaching people of all ages. She was a truly selfless individual who always put the needs of others ahead of herself. At 6-feet tall, she had a striking presence that commanded attention anywhere she went. People listened to what she had to say because she was intelligent, confident and very personable.
Allen made her share of headlines with her basketball skills in the late 1980’s, but she made a bigger impact in the community later in life with her tireless work with young people throughout the city. She dedicated her life and energy to helping area youths better themselves through sports and education. She recognized her passion for helping young people at an early age and worked tirelessly to make things better for them, even during the days of her declining health.
Laurel was merely a young adult at 22 years old when she started working for the Demetrious Johnson Charitable Foundation as a volunteer. She was the first woman to join Johnson’s organization. Her zeal and passion for helping area youths were immediately evident as she came in with all kinds of creative ideas. One of those ideas came to fruition and she helped create the foundation’s “Read and Achieve Program.”
“She really humbled us all as men,” Johnson said. “She was smart, she worked hard, she was determined and very organized. She was my heart and I loved her like a sister. She meant the world to me. I’ve lost one sister already and this is like losing another sister.”
After cutting her college career short to join the work force, Allen later returned to college to receive a degree in business from Fontbonne University. She then began the seven-year process of starting her own foundation, which became a reality in 2004 when she created the “Pursuit of Excellence Sports Foundation” as a vehicle to mentor and inspire young people to help them achieve their dreams and aspirations. She travelled around to area schools and conducted seminars for young student-athletes on the importance of education, life skills, the recruiting process, goal-setting and all of the other important information that is needed to succeed at the collegiate level.
We are all going to miss this beautiful young lady, but the lessons that she taught all of us, young and old, shall never be forgotten.
A visitation for Laurel will be held today (Thursday, June 12) at Eddie Randle and Sons Funeral Home (4600 Natural Bridge). The funeral will be held on Friday at Antioch Baptist Church (4213 N. Market St. W) at 10 a.m.
Draft Derrick
Congratulations to Westminster Christian Academy baseball standout Derrick Phillips, who was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 23rd round of last week’s Major League Baseball Amateur Draft. A 6’2” 210-pound outfielder with a rocket for a throwing arm, Phillips hit .425 with seven home runs and 35 runs batted in for the Wildcats, who finished the season with a 21-6 record.
Coach Dale
Dale Turner was hired as the new boys basketball coach at Madison High last week. Turner was a former star player at Venice in the late 1980’s and the starting point guard of the Red Devils’ IHSA Class A state-championship team in 1987. He was a four-year starter and standout point guard at Northern Iowa from 1989-92.