[5][7][8] Coage was born in Harlem, New York City and raised in St. Albans, Queens, attending Thomas A. Edison High School.

[8] His victory made him the first African American to win a solo Olympic Games medal in a sport other than boxing or track and field.

[6] He went on to hold a number of other jobs, including briefly working as a bodyguard for singer Aretha Franklin, before deciding to train as a professional wrestler.

[5] Coage made a one-off appearance in the World Wide Wrestling Federation in February 1978, defeating jobber Frank Williams at a live event under his birth name.

Allen remained with Stampede from 1982 until 1988, with some tours of Australia and Florida during that time, and had matches with wrestlers such as the Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart.

Some memorable moments from his WWF tenure included winning the battle royal at WrestleMania IV by last eliminating Bret Hart, who was then a heel, after a sneak attack,[13] followed by a brief feud with WWF World Heavyweight Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage and his manager Miss Elizabeth in late 1988 that led to more main-event matches.

Around this time, Brown was worked into a story where he attacked WWF president Jack Tunney on The Brother Love Show after confronting him about being denied title matches.

[14] On the March 11, 1989 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event XX Bad News memorably took a microphone towards the end of his match with Hulk Hogan and told him that it was time for the Ghetto Blaster (an enzuigiri).

Brown eventually left the WWF after SummerSlam 1990, claiming Vince McMahon failed to live up to his promise to make him the company's first black champion, which reportedly affected him and his wife.

[16] As written in the autobiography of the Dynamite Kid, Coage's legitimate toughness was displayed in a confrontation involving André the Giant, who allegedly made a racist comment on a tour bus for New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

During his last marriage until his death, Coage was married to Helen in which he had one son, Allen Jr. (AJ) and raised two step children, Dawn and Frances.

Coage died of a heart attack on the morning of March 6, 2007, at Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary, minutes after being rushed there due to chest pain.