Lehigh fullback and published author RaShawn Allen is changing lives
BETHLEHEM, Penn. — There’s no question that the Lehigh Mountain Hawks are going through a season that is beyond anyone’s worse nightmare. Nevertheless, senior captain and fullback RaShawn Allen has been an impressive leader, student and yes, author.
Allen, who grew up in Canton, Michigan, led St. Mary’s Prep to three straight Division III state championships. He holds the school’s single season rushing mark with 2,131 yards, accomplished in 2016. He was named one of the top 50 recruits in the Class of 2018 and also helped St. Mary’s Prep track team to two state championships. In the classroom, Allen was an honor roll student and member of the Honor Society.
On the field at Lehigh, Allen scored on a 75-yard run against Navy on Lehigh’s first play of the game on Sept. 15, 2018. He finished second on the team in rushing with 328 yards and three touchdowns. Allen also had great work in the classroom and was named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.
Allen started all 11 games in 2019 and finished second on the team in rushing with 334 yards on 124 carries. His best game was against Sacred Heart in which he accumulated 113 yards on 27 carries. Once again, Allen was named to the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll.
In three spring games in 2021, Allen led Lehigh with 128 yards and scored on a 49-yard scamper against Lafayette. So far this season, Allen has rushed for 84 yards on 30 carries.
While Allen has excelled on the football field, his passion since he was a little boy was writing. During the summer after his freshman year at Lehigh, Allen decided to write a book. After a year of editing, and seven to ten rewrites, The Canton Greats was published and is listed on Amazon under the pen name Ronald Jermaine Love.
The book is about two boys growing up in different circumstances, trying to overcome the presence of fate in their lives. The main focus in one of the key characters is mental health, struggles with depression and other mental disorders. The other main character deals with the hardships of growing up poor in an environment full of gangs and violence.
Allen received his inspiration from his own experiences combined with those of his immediate family, close friends and relatives. Not satisfied with one novel, Allen finished the sequel, The Canton Greats Take the World, this past August.
Allen knows that writing takes up a great deal of his free time, missing out on things others are doing. However, it’s all worth it when people come up to him and reveal how reading his books has changed their perspective on what’s going on in the world we live in.
Lehigh football coach Tom Gilmore is impressed with Allen, noting the demands of time being an engineering student. Add in the time on the football field, and it’s a wonder how Allen found time to do it all. Not only is he doing it all, but performing at a high level. That shows how dedicated Allen is at everything he sets his mind to.
When his college football career ends just a month from now, Allen will move on from one chapter of his life. He will continue to excel in the workforce, as an author and at anything else he pursues in life.
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