Allen Bailey, former Atlanta Falcon and AJC Super 11 from Sapelo Island, dies

Allen Bailey, a retired 10-year NFL veteran and former Atlanta Falcons player who grew up in the tiny Gullah Geechee community of Hogg Hummock (or Hog Hammock) on Sapelo Island, was found dead Tuesday in his Florida home. He was 37.

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Allen’s brother Alford Bailey Jr. told TMZ Sports the family believes he died of natural causes, though no official cause of death has been released. Bailey’s wife found him dead, the brother told TMZ.

Bailey was one of the nation’s most fascinating high school prospects during his senior season at McIntosh County Academy in 2006, when he made the preseason AJC Super 11 team with other future NFL players such as Eric Berry, Morgan Burnett and Cameron Heyward.

Bailey, a top-50 national prospect who would sign with Miami, grew up in Hogg Hummock, population about 50. His father Alfred was the first mate on a ferry that Allen took from the state-protected barrier island to his school on the mainland, 5 miles way.

If Bailey had a football game or practice, he would stay overnight with a teammate because the last ferry back home left at 5:30 p.m.

“We have always lived there, and I’m pretty much kin to everybody,” he said in a 2010 story to the AJC when Miami came to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech. “It’s natural that everyone knows everyone. I have to break this down to people in Miami. It’s just closer in the upbringing, how they want to keep (Sapelo) like it is. They don’t want paved roads like in a city.”

Bailey became a two-time All-ACC defensive end at Miami, where he got the nickname “the Hulk” because of his physique. He played in college and the NFL at about 6 feet, 3 inches, 285 pounds.