Lance Allred

Early years

Allred came into the world in Pinesdale, Montana, a commune for fundamentalist Mormon polygamists. His dad teaches high school history. His grandfather, Rulon C. Allred, was a prophet for the polygamous Apostolic United Brethren and was born in Mexico, which gave Allred Mexican citizenship.

The family moved to Salt Lake City when he was seven. He first played organized basketball in eighth grade through an LDS Church league. A top-100 recruit according to CNN/Sports Illustrated, he committed to the University of Utah.

Basketball career

As a freshman at Utah, Allred played 17 games, averaging 2.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 5.6 minutes per game. The following season his averages were 1.0 point and 1.1 rebounds. After his sophomore year, he transferred to Weber State University. Allred accused Utah coach Rick Majerus of constant verbal abuse focused on his deafness, including a statement Allred reported Majerus made.

Two other Utah players confirmed some of the claims, but two assistant coaches said they never heard them; Majerus denied the allegations, and an investigation concluded he did not discriminate. At Weber State, Allred averaged 11.7 points and 6.0 rebounds as a junior, then led the team as a senior with 17.7 points and 12.0 rebounds per game, ranking third nationally in rebounding. He was named First Team All-Big Sky. Professionally, he played for SPO Rouen Basket and JL Bourg Basket in France, Club Bàsquet Llíria in Spain, and the Idaho Stampede of the NBA D-League, where he averaged 10.1 points and 5.7 rebounds in 43 games.

Speaker

After retiring from basketball following a season with Leones de Ponce in Puerto Rico, Allred founded L Squared Productions and began working as a keynote motivational speaker and sports analyst in Utah. In 2015, he joined the American Program Bureau. He released his second book, Basketball Gods: The Transformation of the Enlightened Jock, in 2016.

That year he spoke at TEDxSaltLakeCity with a presentation titled "What is your Polygamy?", which reached 1 million views in less than two months. His third book, How to Give the Million View TEDx Talk: What is Your Polygamy?, came out in 2017. His fifth book, The New Alpha Male: How to Win the Game When the Rules are Changing, was published in March 2020.

Did You Know?

• Allred is legally deaf with 75%–80% hearing loss due to Rh complications at birth.
• Allred won the D-League's first official H.O.R.S.E. title in 30 years using only bank shots.
• Allred competed in the 2002 World Deaf Basketball Championship in Athens, Greece, where Team USA finished second.