Highly-Touted Allen Won’t Play for Carson High, Coach Claims

Center Clifford Allen, touted as one of the five best prep basketball players in Southern California and among the top 15 or 20 nationally even though he has never played in a high school game, will not be with the team at Carson High when practice for City and Southern Section teams officially opens today, Coach Richard Masson said Sunday.

“He’s really not in our picture for this year at all,” Masson said. “I’d be very surprised if he came back to play at any time.”

The 6-10 Allen, who formerly attended reform school, goes before a review board Thursday to face allegations that he violated part of his parole. He will plead innocent, Masson said.

Allen made his favorable impression on college coaches and talent evaluators during summer tournaments and camps, particularly the L.A. Summer Games and in Santa Barbara and Las Vegas. Without having played an in-season game because of his personal problems, he immediately became a major talent for the future.

Bob Gibbons, who publishes the respected All Star Report from North Carolina, had Allen rated as the 15th best senior in the nation going into the season. Street and Smith’s Basketball Yearbook gave him “high honorable mention” on its preseason All-American team.