Editor's Note: Today is the third edition of a 9-day celebration of this year's Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame induction here at CUBuffs.com, profiling each of this year's inductees, leading up to Saturday's football game against Kansas State. Today, we look at the career of the multi-sport star Dave Logan. This year’s Hall of Fame festivities begin Friday, October 17, with the induction ceremonies at the Omni Interlocken Hotel & Resort (5:30 p.m. reception, with induction ceremony at 7 p.m.). The honorees will be introduced publicly at halftime of Saturday's game. 

Former University of Colorado sports star Dave Logan redefines the meaning of what an athlete is. The Oxford English Dictionary defines an athlete as ‘a person who is proficient in sports and other forms of physical exercise,’ and surely he fits into that category, but Logan was much more than that.

At Wheatridge High School in Denver, Logan played three sports at the varsity level. He excelled in baseball, football, and basketball. On the football field, Logan compiled some very impressive statistics with 70 catches for 1,600 yards and 19 touchdowns as a senior.

After his senior year in high school, the Cincinnati Reds drafted Logan in the 19th round of the June Major League Baseball draft. They wanted him to play infielder or pitcher. But he declined and opted to go to college.

“I sent letters to every Major League Baseball team, and at the time if you signed a professional contract you could not come back and play any sport in college,” said Logan. “But I really just wanted to go to school, so baseball was never really an option for me. I wanted to go to college and see what that was all about.”

Logan had over 200 scholarship offers to play sports at the college level, but eventually decided to come to Boulder and play for the Buffaloes.

“That was the right place for me to play. Coach Eddie Crowder was instrumental in getting me up there. He said that I could accomplish what I wanted to accomplish there,” said Logan of CU. “And also, having my family and friends only 28 miles down the road was good because they could come watch me play.”

Dave Logan was drafted by three different professional leagues: NFL, NBA and MLB.

Once Logan got to the Colorado campus, he did more of the same; excelling in athletics. In his first year, the NCAA allowed true freshman to participate in varsity sports for the first time since the 1950’s, and Logan did just that. He was the only freshman in 1972 to letter in football and/or basketball.  He only recorded one catch for 18 yards, but played enough in reserve to receive a letter in football.

On October 21, 1972, the Buffs played host to the No. 2 ranked Oklahoma Sooners. The Buffs went on the win that game 20-14, and Logan notes that game as one of the most memorable of his time at CU.

“I remember when we beat Oklahoma in Boulder my freshman year.  They were ranked No. 2 in the country, and I remember how fired up the crowd was prior to the game.  Our team was so emotional when we took the field due to the crowd,” recalled Logan. “I don’t think I even played in the game, I was just a freshman.  But I remember during warm ups that there was so much energy in the stadium, and I had never experienced anything like that.”

In basketball that season, he played in 13 games and averaged 12.4 points per contest.

The next season at CU, Dave Logan earned the starting wing back spot for coach Crowder’s offense. He ended up second on the team in catches with 22, and first on the team in both receiving yards with 395 and receiving touchdowns with four, which was double that of eventual first round pick J.V. Cain.

In the 1973-74 basketball season, Logan competed in all 26 games and averaged 15.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, which were both second on the team.

In the preseason leading up to his junior year, he was named a Playboy All-American for football, the first Buff to ever accomplish that feat as a non-senior (CU kicker Mason Crosby joined him in 2005). He continued to excel throughout his junior year in football where he was the team’s leading receiver with 21 catches, but he an MCL in his knee against Oklahoma State in Stillwater and had to sit out the basketball season.

With the start of the 1975 football season, Logan was widely considered as one of the best players in the country at his position. He caught 23 passes for 393 yards which awarded him first team All-American status by the Sporting News. He caught 68 passes for 1,078 yards in his CU career, numbers that both ranked second at the time of his graduation and remain in the top 20 all-time.

In what would be his final season of basketball at CU, Logan was second on the team in scoring and in rebounding. In his career, Logan averaged 14.1 points in 58 career games.

So now a decision had to be made. Which sport to pursue in pros. Logan was drafted in the ninth round of the ’76 NBA draft by the Kansas City Kings, and in the third round of the ’76 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns. He was drafted in three separate professional sports leagues, which is a feat that only he and hall-of-fame baseball player Dave Winfield have ever accomplished.

“My standard answer is ‘A moment of insanity,’ said Logan of why he chose football over basketball. “But considering where I was drafted in football (65^th overall), I decided to give that a try, and I don’t regret my decision.”

Dave Logan moved to Cleveland where he played the first seven seasons of his professional football career.

“I never spent any time in Ohio, so it was kind of a culture shock. However, it turned out really good. They love football there, and if your good than they appreciate what you can do.”

He earned the reputation of being a clutch performer for the Browns by making plays and converting on third down. In the 1983 season, Logan only caught 33 passes, but 15 of those were on third or fourth down, and gave the offense a first down.

After the 1983 season, Logan signed a contract to comeback to Colorado and play for the Denver Broncos.

“Coming back to Denver means a lot to me,” Logan stated when he signed with the Broncos. “It means a chance to come home, where, hopefully my home will be after my football days are over.”

And that is exactly what happened, after the ’84 season Logan retired from football where he played in 119 NFL games with Cleveland and Denver, and caught 263 passes for 4,250 yards and 24 touchdowns in his pro career.

Currently, Dave Logan is the radio voice of the Denver Broncos on KOA. He is also the head football coach at Mullen High School in Denver, which one of the top high school programs in the state. Logan takes great pleasure in coaching young men.

“I think that seeing the development of young men, not only as players, but also as watching them grow up as ninth graders until they leave as seniors,” said Logan. “You spend a lot of time with those kids, and it is great to see how hard they work.”

Dave Logan fits the description of what an athlete is, but considering all he has accomplished en-route to the Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame, he has redefined what an athlete should strive to become.