Month: July 2021

ORLANDO – Dave Logan’s father coached him in both little league football and basketball, and that relationship ended up being the primary reason Logan grew up to become a coach himself.

Even at an early age, both of Logan’s parents ingrained in him that should he one day have an opportunity to work with kids that he must take advantage of the chance to guide younger generations and help them grow through sport. Logan took those words to heart and has spent decades doing exactly that.

On Thursday night at the 102^nd annual National Federation of State High School Associations Summer Meeting, Logan was inducted into the NFHS Hall of Fame for the wide-ranging impact he has made over his wide-ranging career in the world of sports.

“The idea of working with kids was ingrained in me when I was very young,” Logan said. “Even when my dad was coaching me, he talked about how, ‘You’re going to grow up and eventually, if you get the opportunity, you give back.’”

Logan was a three-sport standout – football, basketball and baseball – throughout his high school years at Wheat Ridge from 1969-72, and insists he never had a favorite despite his future professional career in football. His favorite sport, Logan says, was whatever he was playing a given time.

One of only three multi-sport players to be drafted by all three major sports organizations, Logan went on to be a two-sport star at the University of Colorado and then played nine years as a wide receiver in the NFL. He played eight of those years with the Cleveland Browns before playing his final season with the Denver Broncos, where he would eventually become the organization’s on-air radio voice on KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM.

Logan has been “the voice of the Broncos” for three decades and in 2019 signed an agreement to continue for another 10 years.

Since he returned to the high school coaching rankings, Logan has won nine state titles and 290 games over 28 years split between four schools, including Arvada West, Chatfield, Mullen and Cherry Creek. Most recently, he guided the Cherry Creek Bruins to an undefeated season and a second straight Class 5A state championship in the fall.

During his NFHS Hall of Fame acceptance speech, Logan reminisced on the many lessons he learned from his own high school coaches and teachers. Now going into his 29^th year coaching high school football, he remarked that he remains focused on imparting those same lessons and principles to the young student-athletes he now coaches.

“I think the life lessons you can learn as an athlete and a high school kid, many of those you carry with you and they shape in a lot of ways who you are and who you became,” Logan said. “They shape how you conduct yourself and what’s important to you, and what’s not important. I loved every single sport. I couldn’t wait when the season ended, the next day I was at whatever the next season was. I was able to carry what I learned from my high school experience into playing both basketball and football in college.

“But I think what we need to be able to recognize, and too often we don’t do this, is the importance and the impact that high school coaches, teachers and administrators – those who deal with our youth – have on young people. And even though it might not seem like it every single day, and I know I leave practice some days thinking, ‘I’m not sure they hear a word I said today,’ they do.

“They do.”

Logan entered the NFHS Hall of Fame 2021 class with a pair of other renowned Colorado athletes in former Colorado Rockies player Matt Holliday and former Denver Nuggets player Alex English.