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Ohio State football history: Where is former running back Jeff Logan now?
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- Ohio State football history: Where is former running back Jeff Logan now?
Jeff Logan grew up in Canton, where he played running back for Hoover High School and set a Stark County single-season scoring record of 216 points, a record that stood for 33 years. He earned first-team All-Ohio honors as a junior and senior.
And he grew up in the shadow of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
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"I was certainly aware of what a hall of fame meant," Logan said, "because of what was going in Canton."
But at Ohio State , he had a hard time envisioning himself earning the school's greatest honor. It wasn't because he wasn't putting up the numbers. He was just the second Buckeyes player to rush for more than 1,200 yards in a season. (The first was Archie Griffin , who was Logan's teammate in 1974 and '75.) Logan finished with 2,026 yards and 11 touchdowns in 35 games. During his time at OSU, the Buckeyes went 39-8-1, won four straight Big Ten titles and played in two Rose Bowls.
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No, the reason he couldn't picture going into the OSU Hall of Fame was primarily because, for most of the time he played, no such honor existed.
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"There was no Hall of Fame to be able to target, to be able to set as a goal," Logan noted.
It wasn't until his final season of 1977, when he was a captain for the Buckeyes, that Ohio State inducted its first-ever HOF class, one which included Hop Cassady, Wes Fesler, Chic Harley, John Havlicek, Les Horvath, Vic Janowicz, Jerry Lucas, and Jack Nicklaus.
That 1977 season ended with Ohio State falling to Alabama 35-6 in the Sugar Bowl. Then the Baltimore Colts drafted Logan in the seventh round of the 1978 draft.
Jeff Logan in 1977.
"I had one of the shortest all-time careers in the National Football League," Logan recalled. "I remember wondering what's next."
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Cut after the preseason, he went fishing with a buddy in the "middle of nowhere" in Canada for a week to decide if his next step would involve the Canadian Football League.
Instead, Logan decided to heed the wishes of his coach, Woody Hayes. Logan's father, Dick, also played for Hayes, so the hopes Hayes had for the younger Logan carried a lot of weight.
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"I went and worked at a law firm for a year, thinking that I would go to law school because that's what Woody Hayes wanted me to do," Logan said. "And I'm glad I did go work in that law firm for a year as kind of a law clerk because it made clear to me that the one thing I didn't want to do is become a lawyer."
It also made clear that he still wanted to be a team leader and that he still possessed an incredible drive.
"When I got done with football, and they were done with me, it became important to find something I could compete at a high level," Logan said. "That thirst for competition didn't end."
Jeff Logan at Ohio State
He tried golf. He started managing the central Ohio operation of Skylight Financial Group. He entered broadcasting and still serves as an analyst for high school games on the CW, makes Friday morning appearances on 99.7 The Blitz and joins 610 WTVN before and after Buckeyes games.
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That gets noticed.
"I'll get this funny look, and they'll say, 'Do I know you?' " Logan said, noting that it's not necessarily because they recognize him from his days as an OSU tailback.
"I hear it more because of my voice," he said.
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Logan also sought to be the best father he could be. He has an adult son and daughter with his wife, who is a former OSU cheerleader. The couple, however, did not meet on campus.
"We were middle school sweethearts," Logan said. "We followed each other all through school, and she thinks Woody Hayes recruited her here and that maybe I would follow."
Former Ohio State football player Jeff Logan (right) with his family.
Finally, Logan pursued opportunities to volunteer. It was his way of "paying it forward," like he believed Hayes would have wanted.
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On that last score, the Logan Family Foundation he helped establish has awarded nearly $1 million to over 100 beneficiaries in northeast Ohio, Ashland County and central Ohio, according to the charity's website .
To give back to the university, Logan started emceeing the Ohio State Hall of Fame banquet, where he saw "some pretty strong people get humbled ... by the experience of being recognized for their career before and after Ohio State," and joined the Varsity O Alumni Board.
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"I was a past president, and the Varsity O Board is responsible for vetting the nominations, making the case for who should be considered and ultimately voting," Logan said. "So my perspective of it is different than many others that maybe weren't involved in that selection process, and now all of a sudden, I'm one of them that got in."
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That's right. This time around, Logan himself is being inducted. He remembers getting the call.
"I was home. I was by myself. My wife and daughter were out of the country. My son was with his family up in Cleveland. "I was like, 'Really? Are you serious?' "
It might mean more to him than it would most people, but he was told he had to keep it secret for six weeks.
"I said, 'Well, listen, can I call my mom?' Because I have a 93-year-old mother who is a resident of a nursing facility up in the Canton area. She's doing terrific, by the way. ... And I swore her to secrecy."
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Nobody at the home found out. This weekend, though, an entire stadium full of fans will have a chance to recognize Logan as he is celebrated along with the other members of the 2024 Hall of Fame class.
"I would say probably the thing I'm proudest of (as a player) is the fact that I performed at a high level on the field, but I was also recognized as an Academic All-American at a time there were 22 players on that roster," Logan said.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Where is Ohio State football running back Jeff Logan now?
