Seattle sports figures pay tribute to Seahawks owner Paul Allen

Paul Allen was a quiet sports owner, one who mostly stayed behind the scenes, but his impact on those around him was felt strongly,

From coaches and players to an announcer and a fellow owner, praise was effusive for Allen, owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers, who died Monday from complications of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

The first reaction, of course, was surprise.

“I am shocked, just absolutely shocked,” said Steve Raible, who joined the expansion Seahawks as a receiver and played six seasons in Seattle from 1976-81 before eventually becoming the longtime radio voice of the team. “We have seen Paul beat this twice. We just assumed that would be the case (again). I don’t know if anybody, except those closest to him, knew that he was as sick as he was. This really comes as a shock.”

Allen will long be remembered as the man who helped save the Seahawks, buying the club in 1996 from Ken Behring, helping get a stadium built and then seeing the team win a Super Bowl title.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, who brought Seattle and Allen a Super Bowl title after the 2013 season, tweeted Monday: “Deeply saddened by the passing of Paul Allen. I’ll miss him greatly. His gracious leadership and tremendous inspiration will never be forgotten. The world is a better place because of Paul’s passion, commitment, and selflessness. His legacy will live on forever.”

Raible agreed.

“(The team) was really in disarray when he bought it back in the mid-’90s and turned it around – brought Mike Holmgren in and really rebuilt the tradition, or started the tradition that has led to where we are now,” Raible said. “Just amazing, and it was all due to his leadership, and due, truly, to all the leadership decisions he made right through to the Super Bowl.”

Allen brought in Holmgren to be the team’s coach and general manager after the 1998 season. Holmgren’s 10-season tenure as coach was the most successful in franchise history to that point, including a trip to the Super Bowl after the 2005 season.

“I owe him a great deal because he gave me the chance to be the coach here in Seattle,” Holmgren said. “He cared a lot about his football team and his basketball team. But he was also an owner who didn’t interfere with what you were trying to do. He supported you – if you needed something and you had a good case for that, normally speaking, you got it. That’s the type of owner every coach and every general manager is looking for in professional sports.”

Steve Largent, whose legendary career as a Seahawks receiver earned him a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, said he didn’t know Allen real well, but was a big fan of his work.

“I think he was a great owner for the Seahawks, there is no doubt about that, and did a great job of representing the community,” Largent said. “He always wanted the best for the team and certainly always spent money on the team for it to be successful — bringing in the right people, the right personnel, right coaching staff, the right scouts and everything else. He really got some quality people and that was all representative of Paul Allen and the type of person he was, and the way he did business. It was a real reflection on him.”

The Seahawks tweeted a message commemorating Allen: “Your leadership inspired us. We thank you. We love you.”

Mariners owner John Stanton said this about Allen in a statement: “His life and his legacy are a great example for us all. Paul had a myriad of interests and he pursued them with dedication and curiosity. He had great success in business, but his passion was working to make his community, and the world, a better place. His success in those good works are his bequest to so many whose lives he changed, and to so many whose lives will be changed by the research still underway.”

Sounders FC issued this statement: “Seattle Sounders FC offers its deepest condolences to the Allen Family during this difficult time. We stand united with our community in mourning the loss of one of our region’s great icons. Paul Allen was a profound public leader, leaving an indelible mark on many aspects of civic life here in Seattle, including the growth and success of professional soccer. He will be greatly missed.”

As inspirational and giving as Allen was as a team owner, he remained, at his core, a very private man.

Holmgren said he would meet with Allen periodically while coaching the Seahawks, but called Allen a very private person. Raible said he didn’t know Allen well, but talked with him occasionally. He said the owner always left a good impression.

“I remember my wife, Sharon, and I meeting him at a big charity event at his house on Mercer Island a number of years ago,” Raible said. “He was as gracious as anyone could be. And he wanted to talk about his team. He wanted to know what we thought of things. He was very kind to us.”

Then, at a party at the team hotel celebrating the Super Bowl victory, “We stood and talked for 15 or 20 minutes while the band was playing,” Raible said.

“As powerful of a person as he was, he was so very gracious,” Raible added. “Immensely smart, obviously, and really a neat guy to be around. He truly will be missed in this community and for things way beyond football – for all he has done and has meant to the community, it’s amazing.”