There was pandemonium inside the Rose Bowl as UCLA’s Kazmeir Allen darted toward the end zone, and then there was what happened in Section 5-L, Row 57, Seats 5-7.
Brad Allen watched his son accelerate like a drag racer through a pack of bumper cars and felt his heart race as goosebumps spread over his arms.
Paulette Allen wept at the sight of her grandson becoming not only the first member of her immediate family to go to college but graduate to stardom before the start of fall classes.
“He was the first one to break the cycle,” Brad said of his son, “and definitely changed the whole family.