Requiem For An Architect: Remembering Brian Allison

I have had Brian Allison’s cell phone in mine for quite some time... 

It dates back to his first tour at Union County and playoff runs where we would churn up tires in marked vehicles looking for pregame or halftime content- a focus on a student-athlete that was heading to Division I-AA, views in the fall from a terraced hillside that were unparalleled when the colors turn, and seeing the scoreboard roll over like one of those old-fashioned pinball machines. 

He had two tours at his alma mater- from 1996 to 2001 and from 2008 to 2020- that alternated with six years at Winder-Barrow and wrapping with a program he created from whole cloth at East Forsyth. Those three seasons ended back in 2023 as did his head coaching time with an overall record of 161-129. He would spend time after retirement with Heath Webb and the Lumpkin County program, and that went into this season. 

The Allisons also had to face an opponent that they’re not alone in- not by any stretch. And it’s an opponent we all hate and wish we knew more about how to battle and send into the sun... 

Cancer... 

And it would take Brian Allison from those he loved, those he touched, and those he knew way too soon. He passed after a valiant battle and stood up to cancer until Friday afternoon when two teams that knew him- East Forsyth and Lumpkin County- were about to play each other in a non-region game at the Half Mile. He passed at the age of 60. 

Too darn young if you ask me... 

Credit: Facebook: East Forsyth Football

Dustin Canon took over the East Forsyth program after Allison’s retirement for the 2024 season... 

“I think he was worse off than anyone knew,” Canon says from campus. “Two weeks ago, when we were on our Sunday call that we would have, he just sounded different. He just said: ‘I’m so tired. I’m so tired.’ And he doesn’t really do that. He’s not going to normally tell you how he feels. This was just... different.” 

Dustin’s full second pause between those last two words resonated. You fight, and you fight, and you fight. The energy you muster yourself and the energy others give without a second thought to get someone through a day where a body is fighting as best it can... can carry and lift only so much. You smile knowingly, resigned to fate, and the noise in your head just registers louder. The support is vocal and physical, and you wish there was more you could do... 

And you just... can’t... 

Coach Canon talked to Coach Allison’s wife, Pam, and was told Brian was coming home from hospice. From there, the time on the wall and the wrist becomes a marker for a conclusion that doesn’t look at the clock itself.You’re at the mercy of something that has no soul and could care less about what you think.  

“It was fitting that on a Friday night, and on that Friday night, East played Lumpkin,” Coach Canon continues. “The ref crew actually worked at East before he retired. It was very special.” 

A little before 5, they got the news Coach Allison passed. The plan for the family was to watch the game, and the teams had, beforehand, planned on a way to honor the man. But then, everything sped up. The senior players at East were told, and the game went on as scheduled. 

“(Lumpkin County Head Coach) Heath (Webb) and I talked it out. We read through the spot for the public address announcer, and it was a very emotional game. It was funny how the game came down. Coach Allison is a defensive guy. We stopped Lumpkin once. They stopped us twice. 

“That was such a ‘coach’ and God thing.” 

“He coached his tail off in this heat in the preseason,” Webb tells me after practice this week. “He was with us in July and August in the pre-season. And there were coaches on my staff that didn’t even know. With the treatment he was having, the work and energy were still there.” 

Heath tells me that Brian coached the Hab Central scrimmage in early August but ended up in the ER in the middle of the following week. “He had such an infectious personality,” he continues. “He made you feel like the most special person in the room, and he was one of those guys you naturally connected with out there. Some of the staff here knew him going in. But for others, some were working with him for the first time ever. 

“There was an instant bond- especially with our Seniors. They just gravitated toward him. In the locker room, he always had stories and wisdom to share. In team meetings, you just wanted to sit near him since he was such an engaging person.” 

Webb also admits the week had been tough going into the game with Allison in hospice care. He was the one to tell the team about the passing last Friday. 

“We shed tears together,” Webb admits. “But, as a team, I think we did a good job honoring his legacy.”Understandably the time since Friday has been tough as well. The plan is for the four schools Allison was a coach- Union County, East Forsyth, Winder-Barrow, and Lumpkin- to wear a black helmet decal with a white“BA” lettering this season. 

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Rob Stowe is the head coach at Union County these days and the staff has Brian Allison’s impact wrapped up in it as well. 

“Three of my coaches had coached with him in the past, and two more played here for him,” he admits. “I just hope my career has the same impact his has. You want to coach and raise good husbands, fathers, and pillars of the community where you are. If I get to do that just a little bit, I consider myself a success. But this week, especially, we’ve gotten to see in players and coaches just how much of a second father figure he is.” 

Off the field, as the Stowes got to come back home themselves to the mountains, the family has been fighting their own battle for over a year now... 

Rob has Stage Four prostate cancer.  

Thankfully, his numbers are down. He’s on an oral chemotherapy regiment. His PSA levels are way down from when they started this 15-rounder- from the “hundreds” which is an astronomical amount... to a “four.” It’s a staring contest at the moment and the Stowe family has no plan to blink any time soon over all this. Will Rob be “cured?”  

Don’t know... that’s up to higher powers... 

So, I guess “managing” might be the best adjective at the moment... 

“We talked every other week,” he tells me before school this week. “I’ve known him my entire life. In 1996, when I was an assistant at Gilmer, that was his first season as head coach at Union. I was a young whippersnapper back then.” Rob gives a good belly laugh from his office at that point. 

He would look at his phone, and they would check in every week. They caught up that way and would see each other along the way this year. 

“We were at some OTA’s (organized team activities) and a 7v7 at Lumpkin and he was looking pretty good. At the time, I didn’t know exactly how he was feeling but it looked like he was feeling good out there coaching.” 

After Week 2’s game with White County, Stowe says they had a lively conversation, but the next week Allison was really tired and equally disappointed he couldn’t coach that week. But there was one thing Rob found out about the time the Union County job was open after the 2024 season that he didn’t know... and it goes to the kind of *person Brian Allison is. 

“Come to find out that he told a lot of people that I was the right person for the job,” Stowe tells me with a sense of wonder in his voice. “I didn’t know he shared that and had my back in the search. That humbled me a great deal.”      

That knowledge of Rob goes all the way back to his days as the Offensive Coordinator at Rabun County where Coach Allison told him: “I wish I could do what you’re doing...” 

“That was a big compliment for me,” he says. “You always knew with Coach Allison his teams were fundamentally sound and that culture was important. He was an ‘old school’ coach in a new world of kids. As I got older, we would share ideas and it grew from there.” 

“Yes, he was successful as a coach,” Coach Webb adds. “But he genuinely loved people. And when you think of the impact he had, the number of people I have talked to tell me just how he changed the course of their lives. I think you can forget all the wins - he just had a great impact on everyone he was around.” 

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Those lessons now rub off on Dustin Canon- the head coach at the last creation of Brian Allison was a part of in Georgia at East Forsyth High School. 

The first conversation the two of them had was at a Waffle House... 

For two hours... 

Allison was building a community from nothing. He got to remind everyone from the foundations about perspective and what it meant to be a good coach and a good family man. It is more than just about football.  

“When you’re young and have kids on the way, you need to hear things like that,” Canon says. “You might not have known it at the time, but God put him with me and my path.” 

All but two of the coaches currently in the program were hired by Brian, and the day-to-day is still rooted in his teachings as he was working from the ground up. 

“It is super special to live out and carry out what he started,” Dustin says. “The roots of it and the core ofmaking a difference are here. With a young staff, you get to develop all of that and exactly how to do things,and you tweak from that growth point. 

“Coach Allison lived to make a difference, and he touched a lot of young people at four different places plus Furman University when he was there. This part of Forsyth County, in the northeast corner, was starved... really starved... for something they could have as their own... for six years... 

“He captured the heart of it and it’s bigger than ball. You get the chance to make a difference in the community. He’s been on my heart non-stop. He was great for high school football and was a great examplefor us all.”   

“He’s definitely gone too soon.” 

Credit: The Mountain Life Real estate team

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The reminders, Dear Reader, are these I guess... 

Don’t ever be afraid of letting anyone know how you feel. Leave nothing on the table.  

Be a good example for others. You never know who you touch, and even the smallest interaction is a reminder of how one rubs off on you and how you carry that reaction forward. 

Home is home...  

It doesn’t matter where it is and who it’s with... and don’t let anyone ever tell you a certain place “can’t” be a home. Your heart guides you in those times of question, doubt, and perseverance. And your family can be as large or as small as you wish. 

Above all, fight like hell and fight like hell with those you love against those things that want to pull you apart at the seams. Rest comes when we need it and those around us will offer shoulders if you allow it. Don’t let pride get in the way in a fight... 

We’re not alone... 

Four places with one family in common can tell you that...