The late Paul Allen to enter Seahawks Ring of Honor Thursday—fittingly as its 12th member
The icon who saved the Seahawks in Seattle has been saved the team’s most symbolic honor.
The Seahawks announced Monday that late owner Paul G. Allen will join the franchise’s Ring of Honor. Allen, a Microsoft Corp. co-founder, died last October, 21 years after buying the team that was about to move to California.
And Allen won’t just be another member of the Seahawks’ famed group.
He will become the 12th member.
Allen will be inducted Thursday just before kickoff of the Seahawks’ game against the Los Angeles Rams at CenturyLink Field.
“The Seahawks and the 12s are part of what makes Seattle such an exciting city and fantastic community, and the community and the fans were at the forefront of Paul’s mind when he purchased the Seahawks,” said Seahawks Chair Jody Allen, his sister. “This Ring of Honor induction celebrates Paul’s legacy and the impact he made on not only the Seahawks organization, but the entire Pacific Northwest.
“It is fitting that he is the 12th member of the Ring of Honor.
“He was the proudest 12 of all.”
Thursday’s pregame ceremony begins at 4:50 p.m., a half hour before kickoff against the Rams. It will have the unveiling of Allen’s name on the suite level facade inside the stadium.
Allen is joining Steve Largent, Jim Zorn, Dave Brown, Pete Gross, Curt Warner, Jacob Green, Kenny Easley, Dave Krieg, Chuck Knox, Cortez Kennedy and Walter Jones in the Seahawks’ Ring of Honor.
Jody Allen will raise the 12th Man flag seconds before kickoff Thursday. At halftime, the Mercer Island Marching Band will present a Paul Allen Tribute. Allen was a longtime resident of Mercer Island, across Lake Washington from both Seattle and the luxurious, 220,000-square-foot Seahawks headquarters he built on land he owned. The team says the band will play a special medley, including one of Allen’s favorite Jimi Hendrix song and one from Allen’s band, Paul Allen and the Underthinkers.
Allen kept the team in Seattle by buying it from Ken Behring in 1997, after Behring had started moving Seahawks headquarters to southern California. Allen then hired the two best coaches in franchise history.
Mike Holmgren led the franchise to its first Super Bowl, in the 2005 season. Then Pete Carroll won it at the end of the 2013 season.
Allen stewarded the culture that created consecutive Super Bowls, in February 2014 and 2015, and the Pacific Northwest’s only NFL championship.
“He was able to pass along the spirit that now we know, of wanting to go for it and kind of no-holds-barred,” Carroll said.
“He was going to clear it for us to have a great chance to do great things. He wanted to win championships, and that’s what he was all about,” Carroll said of why he went for Allen’s pitch to him nine years ago. “He wasn’t going to let anything get in the way, and he was really clear about that. The message that came through was really one that I hadn’t heard in that fashion with that commitment and that spirit of it. That’s what made it even possible to even be in the conversation about it.”
Allen died Oct. 15 at age 65 after complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was beloved by the team’s players, coaches and staff. And it is just one line in the innovator’s philanthropic legacy internationally—if that.
During his ownership, the Seahawks reached the playoffs 13 times, won nine division titles, had eight seasons with 10 or more wins and played in three Super Bowls.
Prior to Allen buying the team the Seahawks had eight winning seasons, four playoff appearances, no Super Bowls and won 10 or more games just once in 21 years.
This story was originally published September 30, 2019 at 12:50 PM.
