Larry Allen, one of the greatest players in Dallas Cowboys history, has died suddenly on a family vacation in Mexico. He was 52.

“Larry, known for his great athleticism and incredible strength, was one of the most respected, accomplished offensive linemen to ever play in the NFL. His versatility and dependability were also signature parts of his career. Through that, he continued to serve as inspiration for many other players, defining what it meant to be a great teammate, competitor and winner,” the Cowboys said in a statement.

“He was deeply loved and cared for by his wife, Janelle – whom he referred to as his heart and soul – his daughters Jayla and Loriana and son, Larry III.”

Allen grew up in Compton, California, where he almost died as a six-week-old after contracting meningitis. He escaped another brush with death at the age of nine when he protected his brother from a neighbour and was stabbed 12 times in the head and neck.

“We would hear the gunfire outside our house, we would automatically roll out of the bed, lay on the floor until the shooting stopped, then get back in bed and go to sleep,” his mother, Vera, told the Los Angeles Times in 1994. “After a while, we got pretty good at that.”

A pathway to the professional game looked unlikely after he failed to graduate high school but he made his way up through community college before starring for Sonoma State, and was a second-round pick for the Cowboys in the 1994 draft.

At 6ft 3in, Allen was not particularly tall for an offensive lineman but he weighed 325lbs, could dunk a basketball and was known for his strength – he could bench press 700lbs – and ferocity.

Another hall of famer, Michael Strahan, described the effect Allen had on opponents. “Players will watch him on film during the week and then pull up with some mysterious injury or flu or something. We call that catching ‘Allen-itis,’” Strahan once observed.

But aside from his physical gifts, Allen was also a keen student of the game.

“I used to tell people that Larry was a quiet man until the ball was snapped, but honestly, Larry talked all the time. He was always asking questions, as much as any player I coached,” former Cowboys offensive line coach Hudson Houck told the Dallas Cowboys Star Magazine. “And we would talk about football for hours, after practice, watching film, he always wanted to know about technique and his favorite question was, ‘Coach, what if this happens?’ He wanted a plan for every possible situation … Larry is one of the most intelligent players I coached in 40-plus years.”

Allen was named to the first of his 11 Pro Bowls in 1995 and won the NFL championship with Dallas the same season. He was also a six-time All-Pro and was chosen for the NFL All-Decade team for the 2000s. He joined the San Francisco 49ers in 2006 and played his final two seasons with the team before retiring in 2007. His son, Larry Jr, played football for Harvard and joined the Cowboys briefly as an undrafted free agent in 2019.

He was devoted to his wife Janelle and called her his “heart and soul” during his hall of fame speech. “On our first date, she cooked for me,” Allen said. “She cooked me two chickens, french fries and baked me a cake and gave me a 40 ounce. I knew then, that was my wife right there.”