Lamar "Buddy" Allen (November 25, 1914 â May 16, 1989) was an American college football player and coach and baseball center fielder in the Negro leagues. He served as the head football coach at Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical & Normal College (Arkansas AM&N)âÂÂnow known as University of Arkansas at Pine BluffâÂÂfor four seasons, from to 1946 to 1949, compiling a record of 17âÂÂ19âÂÂ5.
Allen played as a back for Merrill High School, a segregated black school in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, which won national championships in 1932, his freshman year, and 1933. His accomplishments were such that even the state's white newspapers, including the Arkansas Gazette took notice. He played baseball with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1940.
Allen earned a master's degree in education from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1951 and continued there with postgraduate work in administration and educaftion until 1953. He returned to the football coaching staff Arkansas AM&N in 1959 as line coach under Charles Spearman.