An Ascent Shadowed By Questions on Race

Allen, who denies using racist language, declined requests for an interview, asking instead for written questions. By yesterday, his campaign had not provided answers.

Those closest to him say that Allen is no bigot and that partisan enemies have seized on murky 30-year-old anecdotes and meaningless lapses in political correctness to damage him.

"Politics has become more of a contact sport than football," said Allen's brother Bruce, general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. "I know the person. I know the man."

Others from Allen's past said they saw a distressingly familiar, coldly taunting hatred when they viewed the macaca tape.

"So let's give a welcome to macaca here," Allen said, pointing a finger. "Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia." Allen later said he didn't know what the word meant and apologized to the Webb volunteer, S.R. Sidarth.

"I saw how he looked, that attitude of condescension and superiority," said Ed Sabornie, a former Virginia player and now a professor of special education at North Carolina State University.

"That rang a bell for me."

'Greasers, Surfers, Crew-Cutters'

There was darkness on the edges of the world of privilege and glamour in which Allen grew up.

His father, George Allen, was the milk-chugging NFL Hall of Famer who took the Washington Redskins to their first Super Bowl in 1973. He compiled a 116-47-5 record over 12 seasons as a coach with the Los Angeles Rams and the Redskins but made room for little else in his life.

"If a man is going to succeed in anything, he must neglect everything else, whether it is his wife, his children or himself," he told an interviewer in 1970.

Even when he took his sons to the Rams' summer training camp, they spent most of their time with Allen's assistants and friendly players such as Deacon Jones, said Gause, who accompanied the younger Allen one year.

When the coach was at their Mediterranean-style home on a cul-de-sac with jaw-dropping views of the Pacific Ocean, the family's spirits rose and fell with the fortunes of the team.