Wyoming changed Josh Allen, and Allen forever changed Wyoming

If his wings were good enough for former University of Wyoming and current Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, they were good enough for everyone else.

Weitzel owns Weitzel’s Wings – more commonly known to locals as Double Dub’s – a popular food truck in Laramie that recently expanded into Cheyenne. The wings have somewhat of a cult following, as do many food trucks, with people tracking the mobile operation’s movements on social media to ensure a taste.

One of those obsessed customers is none other than Allen, one of the NFL’s young superstars, who used to stop by the truck once a week when he roamed the plains of Wyoming. His favorite flavor is spicy bleu cheese, Weitzel notes.

Weitzel, a Wyoming native, knows how good his wings are. But rules are rules, and the National Buffalo Wing Festival held annually in Buffalo only allows brick and mortar locations. For five years, Weitzel unsuccessfully lobbied to enter his wings.

Now, however, he had a powerful ally.

Weitzel told the head of the competition Allen himself endorsed the wings. So, the “Wing King” offered Weitzel a deal – if Allen could personally vouch for the tastiness of the product, Double Dubs could enter.

Weitzel bit the bullet and did what he hates doing. He reached out to Allen for a favor.

“I just told (Allen) the story,” Weitzel said. “I just needed Josh to kind of sell it for me.”

To anyone familiar with Allen, the end of this story is quite predictable. He was more than happy to make the call, and Double Dub's was entered into the 2019 contest.

Allen grew up in Central California but could easily be confused with a born and raised Wyomingite. He came to Laramie as an unheralded junior college quarterback looking for a chance to prove himself. He is now one of the NFL’s best players, one of its brightest stars at its highest-profile position, having just finished his third campaign with the Bills.

While Allen’s season ended in the AFC championship at the hands at one of the sport’s other bright stars, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the world got a taste of the MVP finalist’s talents as he brought Buffalo agonizingly close to a return to the Super Bowl.

As famous as Allen becomes, he always finds time to talk about Wyoming – the state, the football program or its people. Humility is Allen’s strongest trait, University of Wyoming offensive coordinator Brent Vigen said, and that quality was harnessed in a place filled with blue collar people.

“(Wyoming) means so much to me. Just the fact that that coaching staff was the one and only team to offer me a scholarship and allowed me to continue playing football,” Allen said. “Everybody asks me how my time was at Wyoming. I just I can’t say how much enough that I loved it, because it is that small town feel, it is that college town. … I do miss it for sure.”

Allen could talk your ear off when discussing the greatness of his beloved wings, or his passion for Laradise. He is not, however, one to talk a lot about himself. But there are plenty of people in the 307 area code willing to shoulder that burden.

Allen is the encapsulation of everything Wyoming and its people aspire to be. His story of perseverance is familiar and relatable, intersecting all walks of life. His successes are Wyoming’s successes, and there’s something special about rooting for that.

“(It’s amazing) having those connections with those kinds of guys … not just because they are superstars,” Weitzel said. “Even if they weren’t, you’d want him on your side.”

The ultimate competitor

Vigen was unsure whether his quarterback prodigy would play in what most assumed would be the last college football game of his career.

Allen, then a redshirt junior, missed the last two regular season games of 2017 with an injury (both UW losses) and, given his status as an almost certain first round pick in the forthcoming NFL draft, stood to lose a lot by playing in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.

But when Allen volunteered as a team captain at a Potato Bowl bowling competition against Central Michigan and proceeded to talk trash to any and all Chippewas who would listen, Vigen felt pretty sure he’d get one last ride with Allen.

Allen and Vigen had been through a lot over the previous years, and it all started with a 2014 trip to Fresno

The Cowboys posted a 4-8 record during Craig Bohl’s first season in Laramie. That campaign didn’t go as planned, but something good came out of it.

On the road, college teams frequently check out local high school players the night before their own games. During a November trip to Fresno State, a game UW wound up winning 45-17, coaches did their normal due diligence of recruiting the area.

Allen prepped at Firebaugh High, located 45 minutes outside Fresno. He had the frame and the arm, but he was a project. Vigen said Allen was probably about 205 pounds despite standing 6-foot-5. He also hadn’t quite developed his signature athleticism yet.

Allen told anyone who would listen he was a Division I quarterback. Unfortunately, no one listened. So, he wound up at nearby Reedley College.

UW assistant David Brown was impressed with what he saw from Allen at Reedley and told Vigen to come take a look. The Cowboys already believed they had their quarterback of the future in tow, Eric Dungey from Oregon. Dungey’s recruitment blew up late, however, and he ended up at Syracuse. There was suddenly room to take a quarterback.

Vigen watched Allen play, liked what he saw, and put him on their board. Allen ended up enrolling mid-semester of 2015. It was Allen’s only Division I offer.

Fast forward to the 2017 Potato Bowl, and Allen had a choice to make: play one last time with his teammates or preserve his golden arm for the NFL. Following the 2017 NFL draft, ESPN analyst Adam Schefter famously predicted Allen – fresh off a breakout campaign where he threw 28 touchdown passes and led Wyoming to an 8-5 record – would be the first pick in the 2018 draft.

Allen had filled out his frame and was at about 240 pounds by then, and that golden arm was as strong as ever. (Vigen said he’s seen Allen throw a football 80-plus yards.) Looking up the statistics in 2017 won’t tell you the strides Allen made as a leader and football player. The only statistic you’ll need is one – top-ten NFL draft prospect.

As Central Michigan and UW got ready to bowl as a pregame activity, Vigen watched intently as players decided who would be the guinea pigs. Allen volunteered himself and proceeded to bowl a strike.

Vigen was confused and excited at the same time: there’s no way Allen would represent the team in bowling and sit the game out, right? Allen, of course, played in the Potato Bowl and threw three touchdowns in a 37-14 win.

As Vigen looks back on it, it was never really much of a debate whether Allen would play. The man who has done nothing but bet on himself really wouldn’t have it any other way. His gutsy attitude is part of what makes him so charming.

“I knew as soon as he did that, he was going to be in,” Vigen said. “That just showed his competitiveness. … “(I told him) ‘I didn’t know you were a good bowler … (and Allen said) ‘I lived in Firebaugh, we went bowling every Friday night.’”

“It comes back to his character”

Danny Punches will be the first to admit his heart is with the Kansas City Chiefs. But during last Sunday’s AFC championship game, he really couldn’t lose either way.

Punches is the co-owner of Laramie’s Third Street Bar, one of the best-known watering holes in town. During a typical year, the place is packed on Sundays with regulars, the NFL Sunday Ticket package playing on all eight televisions, a free potluck meal for all patrons to enjoy.

Of course, this is hardly a typical year, but the bar located in the heart of downtown was open for the playoffs, and there were more than a few people who found themselves rooting for Allen and the Bills, despite having never set foot in upstate New York.

To understand the impact Allen has had in Wyoming, one need just take a look inside Third Street during a Bills game. The amount of people rooting for the Bills on a given Sunday is “quadrupled or 10-times what it used to be.” Fans donning Bills gear and No. 17 jerseys are commonplace. It matches the UW-era Allen memorabilia that adorns the walls of the cozy joint.

As a bar owner, you don’t want to look biased toward one team, Punches said. It’s bad for business. But everyone within a few hundred mile radius can agree to rally behind Allen. Former New England Patriots or Tennessee Titans fans have seen their allegiances flip since draft night 2018, when the Bills traded up and took Allen with the No. 7 selection.

Even a die-hard Chiefs fan.

“It was a win either way,” Punches said. “I can’t lose on it.”

Allen’s successes have brought a light on Wyoming itself that, quite frankly, few other celebrities other than maybe former Cowboys basketball player Larry Nance Jr. have been able to do. Shelley Dodd, the director of admissions at UW, said that, a year ago, the university had 27 applications from New York. This year, that number is at 41.

That might not seem like a huge number, but it’s a nearly 52% increase.

The school has seen an increase in applications and inquiries in recent years from places like New Jersey and Maryland, which aren’t exactly traditional footprints for UW.

And while Dodd said university recruiters always focus on Wyoming first, Allen’s success has brought a new set of eyes upon the school that might not otherwise have known to look in tiny Laramie. He is the best advertisement Dodd and the school could possibly ask for.

“When we are able to travel to college fairs, our recruiters who have been able to go to the east coast … these students would point to the table, see ‘Steamboat’ … (And say) ‘That’s the University of Wyoming. That’s the school Josh Allen went to.”

People are inherently attracted to Allen’s story, his battle from the bottom and subsequent rise to the top, Dodd said. A potential student who otherwise wouldn’t have given the time of day or consideration to UW can’t help but imagine the possibilities of what their own stories of perseverance could be if they moved to the plains.

Allen highlights the best of what Wyoming hopes to represent: hard work, grittiness and a down-to-earth lifestyle that, quite frankly, isn’t found everywhere. But his story is everywhere.

Everyone has their own Josh Allen story.

“I think sometimes what happens in sports is we get used to Nick Saban and the Alabama players and the Clemson players. You get used to that,” Dodd, a third generation UW graduate herself, said. “When you find somebody that finds success and is humble about that and is from the University of Wyoming, it attracts people because Wyoming is like no other place.

“What we are and who he is, is very relatable. And he has helped (UW) in more ways than he’ll ever know.”

Punches and his son attended one of the Cowboys’ spring games when Allen was still effortlessly slinging footballs around War Memorial Stadium. His son was able to meet Allen after the game, and the star spent time encouraging the youngster, telling him to never give up on dreams and to pursue his love of sports.

It’s one thing to have the local star quarterback sign a football or T-shirt. It’s another thing for him to take time to have an actual conversation with a fan whose life was forever changed from that point on.

Despite being from nearly 1,200 miles away, Allen fit in seamlessly with a culture of hard work and grit and, above all else, genuine enthusiasm for his fellow man. His ability to converse and relate with just about anybody is not a charade. It’s just who he is.

The same reason he helped Weitzel enter the wing competition is the same reason he took time to chat with Punches’ son: it was the right thing to do.

That’s why Punches was OK if the Chiefs happened to lose to the Bills last Sunday. Because Josh’s victories would still be his.

“It comes back to his character. He’s just a normal … I hate to say this, Wyoming person,” Punches said. “If you tell someone you’re going to do (something), you do it … he really personifies what the people in Wyoming are.”

“He’s always going to have that story”

Now, back to that wing competition in Buffalo.

Weitzel didn’t just show up and look out-of-place because a friend did him a favor. He brought home some serious hardware, all based on blind taste tests: first-place in traditional medium sauce, third-place in extra hot sauce, second-place in traditional BBQ sauce and Rookie of the Year.

It might have taken the name drop of all name drops to get his truck’s wheel in the door, but once Double Dubs was there, people took notice. The truck is now allowed every year, no questions asked. Weitzel and his wings proved their merit.

But it was what happened at the competition itself Weitzel fondly remembers. Winning trophies was great, to be sure. But not only did Allen help Double Dubs get into the competition. He showed up to the actual event and helped serve wings for an hour.

When Allen was still in Laramie and waiting for his order, he often found himself chatting with Weitzel’s’ grandmother, who helped cook up food in the back. She didn’t make the trip to the national competition, however, and when Allen showed up, he asked how Weitzel’s grandmother was doing.

There’s something special about a person like Allen. He is that rare breed of talent and humility many superstars like to talk about being but aren’t.

When you’ve done everything the hard way, it’s necessary to savor the moments that wind up getting you to the top, even if it’s just those times where you end up waiting in line at a fast food truck.

“Josh came and hung out for about an hour,” Weitzel said. “(He’s so) down to earth.”

The harsh reality of life is that hard work is only going to get someone so far. Not everyone can naturally throw a pigskin three-quarters of a football field. There is a reason so few people play college football and even less end up in the NFL.

But there is a lesson to be learned in Allen’s story. It is one of self-belief, of betting on yourself and knowing it’s OK to fail as long as you went out swinging. His story is not so different from the young boy or girl who dreams of being a doctor, or the high school baseball player who spends hours at the batting cage to perfect his swing so he gives himself a chance at his dreams.

“He’s been bet against a lot. I think it’s kind of one of those stories that captures people’s imaginations when people pick sides,” Vigen said. “He’s always going to have that story.”

Over the summer, Allen gave current Wyoming players a story they can tell their own kids. When college football was still up in the air at UW due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he dropped in on a few meetings with Vigen and the team’s quarterbacks and freshmen.

Allen is still deeply interested in where the Cowboys program stands, the only team willing to give him a chance at his lifelong goal. When asked about his time in Laramie during a recent Bills news conference, Allen gave a subtle, but emphatic, “Go Pokes.” Allen also wants to know how Vigen’s family is doing when he checks in, how his wife Molly is and how their sons are.

The same person who is seen having the time of his life in postgame interviews with Bills teammate Stefon Diggs, the man celebrating every touchdown as if it was his last, the towering figure with a child-like enthusiasm for the game that can be seen grinning at some point on almost every play, is truly who Allen is.

Who wouldn’t want to root for that?

“He’s just a good dude. He’s a guy that can fit in. He can be the life of the party but he can have your back,” Vigen said. “It’s going to be genuine. That part with people doesn’t take long to figure out.”