Proud. Dedicated. #MizzouMade.

When Bob Allen and his teammates on the Mizzou Basketball team laced up their high-tops for early-morning practice in the late 1960s through the early 1970s, it was inside the legendary Brewer Fieldhouse, right in the heart of Missouri’s campus.

Basketball is traditionally an indoor sport, but the pre-practice routines for the facility crew at Brewer seemed more appropriate for a baseball diamond. The preparations before those practices are what stand out to Allen the most about his time at Mizzou.

“It was those early Saturday morning basketball practices in Brewer Fieldhouse, when maintenance staff would water down the dirt floor around the court, to eliminate dust,” Allen said. “And watching the pigeons fly around the upper areas of the field house, those are the things I remember the most.”

Allen played under legendary Mizzou Basketball coach Norm Stewart right as he took the reins of the program in 1967. Allen’s first year was 1968-69 and he, along with teammates Greg Flaker, Mike Griffin, John Brown, Orv Salmon and Al Eberhard, were the some of the first players in the lasting legacy of Stewart’s coaching tenure. They laid the foundation for more than 30 years of successful hoops under Stewart, the school’s all-time winningest coach.

“I remember standing-room only crowds for home games,” Allen said. “We didn't lose often.”

Allen is right; Mizzou did not lose often. During his junior season, he and the Tigers went 17-9, including a second-place finish in the Big Eight. As a senior, Mizzou was even better, going 21-6 and 9-5 in league play, advancing to the National Invitation Tournament in a time when the NIT was every bit as prestigious as the NCAA Tournament.

“An experience that really stands out was playing in the NIT in Madison Square Garden after the 1971-72 season,” Allen said. “It was my last collegiate game for Missouri.” Allen also cites playing UCLA in Pauley Pavilion during the 1970-71 season as a stand-out memory.

His experience at Mizzou was more than playing basketball. He fully immersed himself in Mizzou Athletics and being a student-athlete at the state’s flagship institution. He has even enjoyed watching Mizzou’s programs enjoy success over the recent years. He is particularly excited about the future of Mizzou’s Women’s Basketball program, which has a tie to his hometown.

“I enjoy attending Football and Women's Basketball,” Allen said. “Both programs have elevated to national status and been very successful in the SEC. Women's Basketball will have an incoming freshman guard, Grace Berg, from my hometown of Indianola, Iowa.”

After college, Allen put together a successful career in insurance. He retired in 2016 after a long career as a senior underwriter at General Casualty/Winterthur Insurance Group in Des Moines, Iowa, where he currently resides. It was a successful career to follow a great student-athlete experience at Mizzou. Allen is quick to credit his experience as a Mizzou athlete to his success in the real world.

“My final college decision came to Missouri and Colorado State,” Allen said. “I chose Missouri because Coach Norm Stewart gave a small-town basketball player the opportunity to play in the Big Eight Conference, obtain a wonderful education, and allowed my family to attend many games in Columbia, Lincoln, Lawrence and Kansas City.”

It is no surprise that Allen flies the Mizzou Black & Gold in his current hometown of Des Moines. He continues to draw a tremendous sense of pride in his Mizzou roots, as many who are #MizzouMade do.

“I wouldn’t change my decision to attend Mizzou for any reason. I’m proud to call Missouri my alma mater and return to campus every chance possible.”