At one point while the Eagles' brain trust was contemplating which strong safety to choose during the early rounds of the 1973 NFL draft, they set aside the scouting reports and head coach Mike McCormack simply asked tight end Charle Young, one of the team's first-round selections, for his suggestion.
"Charle gave them my name because I had played against him in the (East-West Shrine Game and Hula Bowl)," said Randy Logan, an All-America player at Michigan who was chosen in the third round. "I was excited just to get an opportunity. I was somewhat surprised that it was the Eagles because all the contact that I had during my senior year was coming from teams in the southwest, especially the Dallas Cowboys.
"But it didn't matter. Here was a team in the National Football League that was calling me and saying that they were picking me and would I like the opportunity to come and play with them? And it was just a resounding yes! Yes, I would love to do it!"
Enthusiastic? Certainly. Productive? Most definitely. And after becoming a starter during training camp, the rookie would go on to lead Philadelphia with five interceptions.
"The transition was good because each step allowed me an opportunity to enhance my ability to do what I really wanted to do in life, and that was to play ball," Logan said. "I think I was very blessed to have that gift and desire and fortitude to stick with it in the midst of circumstances. And there were some circumstances where I could have easily quit and said, 'Forget this.' But because it was something that I really wanted to do, I overcame those obstacles."
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| SS Randy Logan |
Logan and the team as a whole overcame obstacles five seasons later and finished the 1978 season with a 9-7 record, which put them in the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. The key?
"Coach (Dick) Vermeil, no doubt about it," says Logan. "We started on an uphill climb in '78 and it was definitely the fortitude and the discipline and the stick-to-it-approach that coach Vermeil brought to the team. He was a dedicated worker, a discipline-oriented coach. You would appreciate what he was doing as time went on and we began to win and do better than we had done. And that was a tribute to the type of format that he brought."
In 1980, Vermeil brought the Eagles to the threshold of the Super Bowl XV title. The Oakland Raiders, however, stood between Philadelphia and the Lombardi Trophy and walked away with it after winning, 27-10.
"It was such a unique experience. I'll never forget when we beat Dallas at home (in the NFC Championship Game). When the gun sounded which ended the game, I just fell to my knees right there on the field and my mind was like, 'We are in the Super Bowl! We are in the Super Bowl!'" Logan recalled. "We were greatly privileged because how many individuals have an opportunity to do that? It was a great experience from that standpoint. I wish we could have won it, but still, I thank the Lord for being a part of it."
The two-time Pro Bowl player retired following the 1983 season. He never missed a single game during his 11-year career. In fact, his 159 consecutive games played streak is second all-time to wide receiver Harold Carmichael in Eagles' history.
"Well, No. 1, I have to attribute it to the goodness of the Lord," said Logan, who had 23 career interceptions. "To do all that in 11 years, the constant hitting and playing and everything, it had to have been his mercy to watch over me because a lot of players that I've seen definitely didn't last that long.
"I had the aches and the pains and the dislocated fingers and that sort of thing, but nothing really major to keep me out. It could have happened to me, but through the grace of the Lord, it didn't."
Logan continues to demonstrate that same work ethic today as the assistant dean of student affairs at Saint Gabriel's Hall, a reform school for 12 to 18-year-old boys in Audubon, Pa.
"We have 200-210 boys that have been adjudicated from the court system based on anything from assault to truancy to robbery. All of the negativity you could think of," Logan said. "They were sent by the courts because of their age and have to serve their time with us in the residential program. They live there for like nine to 12 months.
"It's an opportunity to help reform them, basically. It's an opportunity to interact with them, encourage them, and let them know that they can still do positive things and make it in society. It's just a matter of having the discipline and knowing that somebody's behind them, supporting them. I enjoy it.
"I feel that I've been blessed by the Lord because I can use what he has blessed me with to get to the heart of these young men who would otherwise never open their heart up to people or give them the time of day. But having played ball, they want to see the Super Bowl [NFC championship] ring. They want to ask what it was like. So it's the door opener. It's the opportunity to help them set priorities and understand that they have to do hard work and have discipline. Sometimes it comes through not just by telling them, but by demonstrating to them. And having played ball which they've seen on TV and telling them what I went through, it's an advantage. It definitely is."
Making his home in suburban Philadelphia, Logan and his wife, Janice, have three sons: Jonathan, 22; Jordan, 20; and Wesley, 18.
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