GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Before Kingston Allen became one of the biggest names in northeast Wisconsin high school football, he was a kid in his grandparents’ backyard, throwing a baseball into the air and trying to catch it.
His grandfather was there cheering him on.
“He really taught me how to do everything regarding sports that I know,” Allen said.
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Baseball came first. Then came football and other sports. Eventually, Allen realized football was the sport he was best at.
But the lessons he learned from his grandfather extended well beyond athletics.
“I wasn't fortunate enough to have like a main father figure in my life at the beginning, so I would say that he was the main one,” Allen said. “He taught me how to do much more than just sports.”
For Allen’s mother, Tina, the relationship between her son and her father was especially meaningful.
While she was working and attending school, Allen spent much of his early childhood with his grandparents.
“It was kind of a goal of mine to have him have the same connection I had with my dad,” she said.
She got to watch that bond develop.
For Allen, some of his favorite memories are still the simplest ones: being in the backyard with his grandfather, throwing a baseball and hearing him cheer when he made a catch.
“It was just like love and he wants me to be better and stuff like that,” Allen said.
That relationship continues today, even as Allen’s grandfather deals with dementia.
He has not been able to attend Allen’s recent games, but Allen still finds ways to share his accomplishments with him. After big games, he brings him newspaper clippings and shows his grandfather what he has done.
After Allen’s 504-yard, seven-touchdown performance against Slinger last season, he brought him the newspaper.
“It’s such a great experience to be able to show what he did for me at a more tangible level like that,” Allen said.
As a junior, the Notre Dame Academy running back broke records, helped lead his team to the state championship and became one of the most highly regarded high school football players in the area.
He also earned a scholarship to play at Wisconsin — the school he grew up rooting for.
Allen said he grew up a fan of the Badgers, in part because his grandfather was a fan.
When Wisconsin offered him, Allen was sitting on the side of his bed at home waiting for a coach’s call.
After hearing the news, he ran downstairs yelling for his mom.
“I didn't think it was going to be that result from the call,” Allen said. “After the call I was just shaking.”
For his mother, the moment was the culmination of something Allen had talked about since he was young.
“He's always said since he was very young that he would play football in college,” she said. “He's always said it.”
She remembers telling him not to forget to have a Plan B.
His response: “I don't need a Plan B. I'm going to play football.”
Now, with one final high school season ahead, Allen has another goal.
It is not another record.
It is not another individual accolade.
“I just want to win the state championship,” he said.
Allen said he would gladly trade individual numbers for a championship.
“If that comes with records and accolades, then that's even more of a plus onto it,” he said.
The attention around Allen has already grown considerably. Fans wait for him after games for pictures and autographs. Younger athletes look up to him.
“Every interview I can do, every touch in football I can get, every person I can talk to that wants to take a picture of me, everything's a blessing,” he said. “I kind of just look at it as I'm going to cherish this moment instead of regret it.”
His mother said the attention has not changed him.
“With all the attention, he's stayed so humble and he's just kind of true to himself,” she said. “That's just who he is and that won't change no matter what.”
That humility is also what Allen hopes people remember.
“I'd like to not be remembered for football even,” Allen said. “I'd like to be remembered as someone who was kind to others and someone who had great ideals in life and someone to really emulate your life after in the everyday world as well, not just football.”
And when Allen looks back at how he got here, he does not point to a record, a recruiting ranking or a single game.
He points to the people who invested in him.
“My mom, she is my rock,” Allen said. “Like my grandma, my grandpa, my mom, the people that are willing to fully invest in you and give you all their love and attention are the people that are going to get you to where you want to be.”
For Allen, that journey started in a backyard — with a baseball, a grandfather and someone cheering him on after every catch.
