Marv Allemang came from a large family and was raised outside of Hamilton, Ontario, in the bedroom community of Ancaster. Then-coach Bob Vespaziani recalls Marv as “the big, strong, silent type, and honest as the day is long.”
An important cog in the Axemen football machine, Marv played tight end and defensive end at Acadia and was nominated for the CIAU J.P. Metras Award for Top Lineman in Canadian University Sport. Coach Vespaziani noted that Marv never left the field as a senior with the Axemen. “At Acadia, he played tight end on offense and defensive end, and never got off the field. He told me later he never got a break until he made the CFL.”
Marv was named an All-Canadian in 1973 and 1974. He was also an Atlantic Universities Athletic Union All-Star for his last three seasons while wearing the red, white and blue.
He loved the game and had great respect for Coach Vespaziani, “but I didn’t have an individual as a football mentor. There was a core group of veterans at Acadia when I arrived and a strong group of freshmen who started with me. Those people were my mentors, who I looked up to and admired. They were the ones by whom I measured myself and set the standards that I wanted to meet and compete at.”
Marv then had a long and distinguished 14-year career in the CFL as an offensive lineman, from 1975-1988. He was also one of those players who got better with age, winning his two East All-Star Honours toward the end of his career, in 1985 and ’86 respectively.
While playing in the CFL, Allemang completed a professional accounting designation (CMA) and, after retiring from football, joined Revenue Canada (now Canada Revenue Agency), where he worked as an auditor and tax investigator. He made a final career change in 1996 and became a professional firefighter in Ancaster, a position he held until his retirement in March 2013.
The Acadia Sports Hall of Fame is pleased to induct, in the athlete category, All-Canadian and perennial AUAA all-star, Marv Allemang.
