When Dave Logan was catching clutch pass after clutch pass for the Browns for
eight seasons in the 1970s and 1980s, little did he realize it was just the
beginning of a career that would enable him to become one of the most versatile
and recognizable men in the Denver area.
Logan, who turned 54 in February, has fingers in more pies in
Denver
than Marie Callender. He has become a modern-day Renaissance Man of sorts. At
once, he is a highly successful high school football coach, play-by-play radio
voice of the NFL’s Denver Broncos and co-host of a popular daily four-hour
afternoon drive-time talk show on KOA-AM/850.
His resume includes induction into the University
of Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame, state high school
football championships with three different teams and three Colorado Sportscaster-of-the-Year awards. All
this while raising a daughter, Cassidy, as a single parent.
But when Logan stepped gingerly and uncertainly into retirement following the
1984 season, it looked as though the football part of his life, that part that
gave him his greatest joy personally and professionally, sought a place in his
rearview mirror.
He had grown up in the Denver area and become one
of its most famous sons with his athletic prowess. He starred in football,
basketball and baseball at Wheat Ridge
High School in suburban Lakewood. His unique
athletic talents led him to become only the second athlete ever drafted by teams
in the National Football League, Major League Baseball and National Basketball
Association. Dave Winfield was the other.
The Cincinnati Reds selected Logan as a shortstop out
of high school in the 30th round of the 1972 free-agent draft. He
chose instead to attend the
University
of Colorado, where he
lettered in football and basketball. The Kansas City
(now Sacramento)
Kings of the NBA chose him in the ninth round of the 1976 draft, the same year
the Browns made him their third-round pick. Football – and Cleveland – won out
The Orange & Brown Report recently caught up with
Logan
for this two-part interview. In part one, Logan reveals how he made the
successful transition to coaching and a career in radio and television.
The OBR: How did the radio thing happen?
Dave Logan: I wasn’t sure what I was going to do after being traded by
the Browns (to Denver after the 1983
season) and then released the next year by the Broncos. I wasn’t sure I was
going to go back to another camp. I had a couple of offers the next year. But
then I decided I would call an end to the NFL career and wound up doing a
part-time radio show for an hour a night. It was kind of a sports talk show on a
very small station in Denver.
It was three or four years later that the guy who did the play by play for the
Broncos for many years passed away. They had an opening on their broadcast team
and offered me the deal. That was June of 1990. And I’ve been doing the Broncos
games since the fall of 1990 and also a four-hour talk show every day.
The OBR: When you retired, was radio something you had given any thought
to or did it just happen?
DL: Actually, it just kind of happened. I’ve had two or three
opportunities to get kind of get involved in coaching on the NFL level. I had a
daughter I was raising and didn’t think it was the right timing for that. I
really never ever contemplated radio or TV frankly. My college baseball coach
(Irv Brown) has been a long-time talk show host in
Denver. I kind of fell into that and fortunately for me,
I was on a station you couldn’t hear after dusk. It went to like 500 watts. So
unless you were almost in the parking lot, you couldn’t hear me which, at that
point, was probably good news. So I was able to learn at a reasonable pace and
was doing various things whether it was high school games or small college
games. Then I started doing Big 8 football and Big 8 basketball on TV and then I
did the Denver Nuggets on TV for about five or six years. Then the Broncos thing
started in 1990.
The OBR: At what point did you say, “Hey, this is a lot of fun. This is
what I do best. This is what I want to do for a long time?”
D.L.: The sports part of it I really enjoyed because it keeps me close
to sports, which I love. I’m kind of a sports nut. So when you get a chance to
talk about sports and do it for a living, you’re pretty fortunate. I know I have
been. And so to break in and have an opportunity to do NFL football on radio –
and I would do preseason games on TV – I’ve been pretty lucky during the course
of my career.
The OBR: It’s a pretty easy job.
D.L.: You know what? You want to be good at it so you put a little
pressure on yourself to try to do a good job. And you figure if you do a good
job, you stay employed. I enjoy the NFL part certainly and it keeps me close to
the game at that level.
The OBR: You’re doing play-by-play now. That’s a different animal than
analyzing the game. How difficult was that for you?
D.L.: I was a color analyst from 1990 through 1995 and I started doing
play by play in 1996 on road games and then in 1997, I took over full time on
play by play. You know what? It is different. You have to follow the
ball. You can’t look off the ball to see what everybody is doing which was
different for me. Not a lot of former NFL players get opportunities to do play
by play, so I looked at it as a real honor and a challenge and it’s something
I’ve really enjoyed.
The OBR: When you first started, did you find yourself watching more as an
analyst than a play by play guy?
D.L.: I think I look at the game differently as a play by play guy
having played the game and also having been an analyst. I probably combined a
little bit of color in my play by play just naturally, but over the course of
time, you learn to rely on your color guy and let him do his thing and tell the
people how much time is on the clock and where the ball is and who has the ball
and what the score is. All the basic fundamentals of doing play by play.
The OBR: Talk about coaching high school football.
D.L.: I’ve been a head coach for 15 years. Fortunately, when I first
started coaching high school football, I was doing a nighttime talk show by
myself from 6 to 8. So for me to coach high school football wasn’t a factor. But
they did move the show into the drive-time portion (of the afternoon) and
they’ve been very gracious with me. I miss a significant amount of the show
during the fall. Actually, when I would get done with practice, I would just go
in the office at the school, put the headset on and wind up getting on the air
about 6 o’clock or so and finishing the show. They’ve been great about that and
even though I’ve missed a lot of time on the air, they’ve allowed me to do it.
The OBR: Same way with the current show you do when you get to the
football season?
D.L.: Yep. We do a drive-time show 3-7 p.m.
The OBR: It’s called . . .
D.L.: The Ride Home. It’s really not a sports talk show, although
we’ll talk sports. It’s more of a general talk show.
The OBR: And you do it with a young lady named Lois Melkonian. What’s it
like working with her and doing that kind of a show?
D.L.: She actually worked at KCBS for 15 years in news. She had never
done long format before. So there was a breaking in period. She’s very bright
and understands radio and she’s been fun to work with. We’ve been together three
years and it’s been fun.
The OBR: Did you ever in your wildest dreams think, as you were going
through school and contemplating your career beyond school that you’d wind up
doing what you’re doing?
D.L.: I thought about the coaching thing and I didn’t exactly know as
to what level that would be. But I never thought about the radio and TV thing. I
went to school to study business. And when I was through with the NFL, or maybe
the NFL was through with me, I wasn’t real sure what I wanted to do to tell you
the truth. I had a real estate degree and passed a real estate exam and I didn’t
know whether or not I wanted to get involved in that industry. I just got real
lucky with my college baseball coach being a talk show host. He said, “Hey come
do a show and let’s see what you can do” and it’s just kind of fallen in place
from that point.
Next: Dave chooses his career path by way of Cleveland.