Josh Allen may be a Californian, but Wyoming has adopted him

Josh Allen was born in California, but the Golden State holds no claim over the superstar Buffalo Bills quarterback. He honed his skills at the University of Wyoming, the only NCAA Division 1 school that offered him a football scholarship after a season playing for a junior college.

Fans at UW’s Saturday game will get to see Allen in person again when he makes his first appearance at War Memorial Stadium since graduating in 2017. He’ll be in Laramie to be honored as the first UW player to ever have his jersey number retired by the football program. But he continues to wear No. 17 for the Bills.

Did his birth state pay $2 million for a 30-second Super Bowl commercial this year to celebrate Allen being named the NFL’s 2024 most valuable player? 

It did not. UW used its special projects reserve fund to air the spot in 25 markets around the country, where it was seen by an estimated 10 million people.

That’s a lot of exposure to UW’s underlying message: “This is where underdogs come to shine, and where real MVPs are made.”

Allen has become Wyoming’s most well-known export. He’s an unofficial ambassador for the Cowboy State who often cites his appreciation for the university giving him a chance to show what he can do.

Allen turned in a masterful performance Sunday in a 44-32 win over Tampa Bay, despite awkwardly heaving the ball right into the arms of a Buccaneers’ defender during the team’s first possession. He more than made up for it by throwing for three touchdowns and running for three more touchdowns, only the second time in NFL history anyone has accomplished that feat.

Who was responsible for the other monster performance by a quarterback? Allen, of course, last December against the Los Angeles Rams.

I tried to interview Allen for this column, but breaking through the wall of defense put up by the Bills’ communications department proved much tougher than I imagined. I’d probably have a better chance of talking to President Donald Trump.

So I switched to Plan B and tried to find the biggest Josh Allen fan in Wyoming. That’s how I learned about Trent Weitzel, a Laramie entrepreneur who drives his Weitzel Wings food truck — aka Double Dub’s Wings — thousands of miles from Laramie to many Bills games, in Buffalo and when the team is on the road.

Weitzel made such treks eight times last year and will do it again later this season. He met Allen after a UW game when the quarterback visited his food truck outside the stadium. Soon, Allen was a regular customer who declared Double Dub’s fried wings the best he’s ever eaten. His favorite? The spicy bleu wings.

Allen’s presence attracted much attention, including from the owner’s grandmother, Audra Weitzel. “She’d always conveniently appear whenever Josh showed up, and talk his ears off,” her grandson said, laughing.

Weitzel tried to enter the annual National Buffalo Wings Festival, but was turned down because he had a food truck, not a brick-and-mortar restaurant. His friend Allen helped him become an official contestant, and Double Dub’s sauces have won the “Festival Favorite” trophy four years in a row. It’s like the Super Bowl of chicken wings.

Weitzel said fans in Buffalo, known as the “Bills Mafia,” treat everyone from Wyoming who travels to the games like long-lost friends. “We’re looking at buying a second house there,” he said. “It just feels like home.”

Weitzel said Allen’s fame prevents him from showing up and helping his crew serve wings, like he did in 2019. “But we always get an order to him on game day, whenever and wherever he wants,” he said.

Why have so many Wyomingites fallen in love with Allen? It might be because he remains a down-to-earth, pretty humble guy they can relate to. Allen grew up on his family’s cotton farm near Firebaugh, California, so he understands what it’s like to live in a rural area.

I also think it’s the way Allen dedicates himself to being the best player he can be and motivating his team by example. Spectacular touchdown passes and runs are what draw us to him, but even his failures show his character. 

Two weeks ago, when Miami upset the Bills, Allen tried to mount a furious comeback with a play that defined for me what a competitor he is. He burst up the middle for a first down, and fought for every inch of ground he could before the ball was ripped from his hands. His face was anguished, but he didn’t give up.

Wyoming fans know no one on the field wants to win more than Allen. They saw it first in Laramie.

As a die-hard Denver Broncos fan since 1969, I never rooted for any other team before the Bills made Allen their first-round draft pick in 2018. Now I watch every Buffalo game I can. If my two teams are playing at the same time, I flip between channels. Whenever they go head-to-head, I root for Denver. Though, as an Allen fan, I hate myself for it.

Talking to people outside of Wyoming, I’ve discovered there are three things they associate with our state: Yellowstone National Park, the murder of gay UW student Matthew Shepard, and former Vice President Dick Cheney. It’s an odd trio that needs a fourth member.

The majestic first national park naturally tops the list. Extensive media coverage about the remaining pair accounts for their presence. Shepard’s brutal death helped galvanize the LGBTQ+ community’s fight for equal rights. Cheney’s recent death showed the incongruities of his career as a respected Wyoming congressman and the most polarizing politician ever to hold the nation’s second-highest office.

Allen is a welcome addition to this list. UW has many gifted football players in its Hall of Fame, including Jim Kiick. But the program has never retired a player’s number before.

Allen will set more records on his way to the NFL’s Hall of Fame. A solid high school football, baseball and basketball player, he dreamed of making the nearby Fresno State football team, but — like the rest of Division 1 colleges — it never recruited him.

UW wasn’t interested until it went to Reedley, a California junior college, to recruit another potential transfer player. Former Fresno State assistant coach Dave Brown, who was familiar with Allen, had just joined UW’s staff and urged that he be recruited.

So even though the Fresno State Bulldogs snubbed him, this connection paved the way for Allen’s success at UW, which turned into his shot at NFL fame.

Thanks, Coach Brown! If it wasn’t for you and the best recommendation you ever made, the man who has united so many Wyomingites in an almost magical way wouldn’t be a part of our lives.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct that UW has never retired a football player’s number before. —Ed.