Cliff Avril: Seahawks’ Paul Allen ‘was a different type of owner’

Paul Allen’s life, personally and professionally, will be defined by so much that goes well beyond his owning a professional sports franchise.

Yet, during his time at the top of the Seattle Seahawks organization, Allen made an indelible mark on everyone involved with the team.

‘He was a lot different than the rest of them from the standpoint of just being there for his players’

Allen, who died Monday, will always be remembered by his players as someone who, first and foremost, showed them the importance of giving back.

“Paul was a different type of owner,” retired defensive end Cliff Avril told Bob Papa and Ed McCaffrey on The Morning Drive. “Most people, when you think of Paul Allen, you think of the innovative guy that created Microsoft, that kind of changed the world from that standpoint, or you think about just how wealthy he was, or whatever. But just knowing him as the chairman of the Seahawks, he was a lot different than the rest of them from the standpoint of just being there for his players.

‘He wanted to make a difference in the world and he showed it by example’

“And the philanthropy part of things. … He was all about making a change for the world, not necessarily just for himself. If you look at the Seahawks over the last five to six years, one being one of the more vocal teams, but also one of the more giving teams. Pretty much everyone on the team has a foundation of some sort that gives back to the inner city, to different organizations. And he played a big role in in, one, allowing it because some people think athletes just need to be athletes and they kind of don’t want their players doing other things. But he wanted that for the players. He wanted to make a difference in the world and he showed it by example.”

Avril said Allen also was steadfast in his efforts to make certain the Seahawks had everything necessary to be a consistent winner, and achieve the ultimate goal of winning a Super Bowl.

‘If you look at the the facility, the organization, it’s all top-tier stuff’

“I talk about some of these other teams and how they approach the game; a lot of times it’s just an investment,” Avril said. “They’re going to take the cheapest route as far as for investing back into the players. Not Paul Allen. If you look at the the facility, the organization, it’s all top-tier stuff. If it’s all about recovery for the athletes, ‘Hey, let’s make it happen.’ If it’s all about nutrition in the kitchen and the food, ‘OK, yeah, let’s do that.’ Whatever it took to keep these athletes playing at a high level, one, but also to taking care of their body, he was all in.

“The technology that they have at that facility is probably one of the best in the country and so many teams now have kind of followed suit because, one, it’s copycat league and we were winning a long time, but they’re following that lead because Paul Allen was, ‘OK, OK,’ on pretty much any and everything that he felt that the team the organization needed to be able to be successful.”