Remembering Dave Logan – Catching my all-time favorite Brown

By STEVE KING

In my last post, I mentioned former Browns head coach Sam Rutigliano of Kardiac Kids fame.

That is, by far, my favorite era in Browns history for several reasons.

I have talked about this before on Browns Daily Dose, so if you’ve heard it already and don’t want to again, I understand it. I really do.

But for those who haven’t heard it, here’s the story – actually, my story and how I got here:

My dad, who was just a little older than all the stars on the great Browns teams of the late 1940s, was a big fan of the team. My interest in the Browns, and of the Indians and Ohio State Buckeyes, comes from him. I loved him, just like a lot of kids growing up love their dads, and so I tried to like what he liked.

After a while, I didn’t have to try any longer. His love of these teams was my love, too. Together, we watched the Browns games on TV, listened to them on the radio (all the home contests in the NFL, regardless of if they were sold out or not, were blacked out within a 75-mile radius) and went to see them in person. Win or lose – certainly, obviously, better with a win, but still, win OR lose – it was always a great time.

The last strong memory I have of watching a game with him was in 1979, when, in a game at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers, wide receiver Dave Logan made a touchdown catch of a Brian Sipe pass over cornerback Mel Blount.

“He reached up and caught that ball with one hand!”, my dad said in a rare exclamation as he sat up in his recliner.

My dad died very unexpectedly less than a year later, immediately making Logan my all-time favorite Brown. The games in that wildly exciting 1980 season, after my dad’s passing, were great therapy.

Last fall, while driving to work very early one morning at a time when far-off radio stations could be heard, I happened across KOA-AM, the longtime flagship radio station of the Denver Broncos. Logan, who is from Colorado, has been the play-by-play announcer for Broncos games for years, and the station played one of his calls from the Monday Night Football game just hours before. I could barely hear it because of all the crackling caused by the many miles, but hear it I did.

And when I heard Logan’s voice, I chuckled and cried almost in the same moment. It was hard to tell which emotion was greater.

I said greater, not worse.

When it’s Dave Logan, it can never, ever be worse.

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