Place of birth: Yoakum, Texas Name Obert Logan Positions Safety High school: Gonzales (TX) Education Trinity University | Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Weight 82 kg Place of death: Luling, Texas Role American football player | |
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Date of birth: (1941-12-06)December 6, 1941 Date of death: January 21, 2003(2003-01-21) (aged 61) Died January 21, 2003, Luling, Texas, United States | ||
Robert Logan football highlights
Obert Clark "Butch" Logan (December 6, 1941 – January 21, 2003) was an American football safety in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints. He played college football for Trinity University. Logan, whose nickname was "The Little O", was the last person in the NFL to wear the single digit 0 before its use was discontinued by the league.
Contents
- Robert Logan football highlights
- Early years
- Dallas Cowboys first stint
- New Orleans Saints
- Dallas Cowboys second stint
- Personal life
- References
Early years
Originally recruited to Trinity University as a defensive back, he was the best athlete on the team, so his coaches persuaded him to play both ways. He lettered four years at Trinity, playing defensive back, flanker and halfback.
He received honorable-mention Little All-American honors as a senior, was a three-time member of the All-Texas team and a three-time All-Southland Conference selection.
In 1999, he was inducted into the Trinity University Hall of Fame.
Dallas Cowboys (first stint)
Logan was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Dallas Cowboys after the 1965 NFL Draft. The team tried him first at flanker, before moving him to safety, where he would end up surprising observers by making the Cowboys opening day roster for the 1965 season.
During his first year, he was a reserve safety (playing behind Mel Renfro). He also was a key component of the special teams unit which blocked nine field goals (three times as many as other team in the NFL and Logan blocked two of those), 5 extra points and 1 punt, totalling 15 kicks blocked.
Early in his first season with the Cowboys, he forced a kickoff fumble that resulted in a touchdown. In the final minute of the Dallas-Philadelphia game, Logan picked off a Norm Snead pass to secure the win. Against the San Francisco 49ers, Larry Stephens blocked a field goal that Logan returned to the Cowboys 47-yard line, helping the Cowboys set up a last minute touchdown to end a 5-game losing streak. In the last game of the season against the New York Giants, he returned a blocked field goal by Cornell Green 60 yards for a key touchdown, helping his team win the game, achieving the first non-losing season in franchise history and advancing to the 1966 NFL Championship Game. He also played in the 1967 NFL Championship Game (commonly known as the Ice Bowl).
Logan was small for an NFL player, being 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) and while listed at 182 pounds, appeared to weigh closer to 160. He also possessed good but not overwhelming speed. What set him apart was tremendous courage and a full out style of play that gave evidence of his knowledge and love for the game.
New Orleans Saints
Logan was selected by the New Orleans Saints in the 1967 NFL Expansion Draft, becoming the franchise's first starting free safety. The next year, he was one of the last cuts before the beginning of the 1968 season.
Dallas Cowboys (second stint)
He was released before the start of the 1969 NFL season, he was trying out as a flanker. He spent the next two seasons, his last in professional football, in the Texas Football League.
Personal life
Logan was well liked and respected by his teammates and his courage and attitude toward the game greatly influenced their lives beyond football.
After the NFL, Logan spent one season as an assistant player-coach for the San Antonio Toros of the Continental Football League. He then held the same position for one year the Fort Worth Braves of the Texas Football League, which was serving as a farm club for the Kansas City Chiefs.
Logan was trying his hand in the rodeo business as a rancher, when he accepted the Athletic Director and his last coaching job for the St. Paul Cardinals of Shiner, Texas. He contracted colon cancer and died in Luling, Texas at his home on January 21, 2003 at the age of 61 He would often tell friends that the most memorable thing about playing football for the Cowboys was Coach Tom Landry. Logan remembered that the first thing Landry told the rookies at training camp was that his priorities were "God, family and the Dallas Cowboys". He recalled being surprised that football was not Landry's first priority.
At his funeral many of his Cowboy's teammates served as his pall bearers, among them were Lee Roy Jordan, Walt Garrison, Bob Lilly, Don Meredith, and Tex Schramm. Logan had maintained lifelong friendships with all of these men. After his death Cowboy great Lee Roy Jordan said of him, "Obert was just a nice guy. I loved being around him. He was undersized and under-everything else but he proved right away that he was a great competitor. He represented the Dallas Cowboys well." Logan was survived by his mother Fannie Mae Logan, wife Patricia, and brother James.