Jared Allen, who was raised on a ranch in Morgan Hill and graduated from Los Gatos High School, was announced as a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee on Thursday.
Allen was born in Dallas and attended Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill.
He’d been passed over for a spot in the Hall of Fame on multiple occasions, but he finally gets in as part of the 2025 class (the others are Eric Allen, Antonio Gates and Sterling Sharpe). It is the smallest class since 2005 when Dan Marino, Steve Young, Benny Friedman and Fritz Pollard were inducted.
Allen, who started his career with Kansas City Chiefs, will now be recognized alongside Chiefs legends like Len Dawson and Derrick Thomas, who got inducted several years ago.
It will be icing on the cake if the Chiefs win the Super Bowl this weekend.
He was a four time All-Pro selection and was in the Pro Bowl five times.
In 2011, Allen set a single season record by a Viking with 22 sacks. In his six seasons with the team, he was always in the NFL’s Top 10 for sacks.
(He averaged 0.89 sacks per game played—85.5 sacks/96 games, the highest average in Viking history.)
Allen retired from the NFL in 2016.
That was after he led the Panthers to Super Bowl 50—his final career game—where he earned one tackle and a quarterback hit.
He was first named a finalist for the Hall of Fame in 2021. He has been a finalists five times.
Allen will be the 23rd former Viking in the Hall of Fame, the first since Steve Hutchinson (who was inducted in 2020).
