"To be a winner of that, and to fall in the long line of traditional great backs at USC, to have your name in perpetuity, the fact that your parents are like icons... that's the greatest thing"
About this Quote
The subtext is gratitude, but also relief. Football fame is notoriously fragile: one injury, one bad season, and the story changes. Allen reaches for the one thing that cant be taken away: institutional memory. Being part of a "long line" is also a way of shrinking the pressure of singular greatness. He is not just a lone star; he is the next verse in a song the university has been singing for decades.
Then comes the sharpest tell: "the fact that your parents are like icons". Thats not an athletic metric; its a community metric. In a big-time college program, the win is public property, and the validation ripples outward. Allen is pointing to the emotional payoff that recruiting pitches cant quite capture - the moment your family gets pulled into the glow, treated as symbolic figures because you made it. Its pride, yes, but its also an admission that the real reward is belonging to something larger than the game.
Quote Details
| Topic | Legacy & Remembrance |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Allen, Marcus. (2026, January 16). To be a winner of that, and to fall in the long line of traditional great backs at USC, to have your name in perpetuity, the fact that your parents are like icons... that's the greatest thing. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-be-a-winner-of-that-and-to-fall-in-the-long-102557/
Chicago Style
Allen, Marcus. "To be a winner of that, and to fall in the long line of traditional great backs at USC, to have your name in perpetuity, the fact that your parents are like icons... that's the greatest thing." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-be-a-winner-of-that-and-to-fall-in-the-long-102557/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"To be a winner of that, and to fall in the long line of traditional great backs at USC, to have your name in perpetuity, the fact that your parents are like icons... that's the greatest thing." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/to-be-a-winner-of-that-and-to-fall-in-the-long-102557/. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.
