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On this date in area sports history …
Sixteen years ago on this date, Jan. 23, 1993, former South football player Don Logan, a lineman at Iowa Central Junior College, died at the age of 19. Complete story on the jump.
Published Jan. 26, 1993
FORMER SOUTH FOOTBALL STANDOUT DIES AT 19
By Rob Oller, Sports Writer
Don Logan, who graduated from South last spring and dreamed of playing in the NFL, died from an irregular heartbeat Saturday night at Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Logan, a 6-foot-3, 275-pound offensive lineman for Iowa Central Junior College, collapsed at a drinking fountain in the lobby of his dormitory after playing a game of touch football in the lobby, said Logan’s father, Don, who lives in Springfield.
Logan, 19, was pronounced dead at a local hospital after doctors tried to revive him.
Dr. Dan Cole, the Fort Dodge coroner, said Logan’s heart went into an abnormal rhythm and stopped beating.
Cole said the abnormal rhythmmay have developed because of Logan’s involvement in sports, an infection or a toxic reaction.
Reports on infection - often the Don Logan cause of such deaths among young people - and possible toxic reaction - which Cole said was unlikely - will not be finished for at least two weeks, he said.
The elder Logan said he learned Monday that no trace of drugs or alcohol was found in his son’s system.
Logan roomed with former South teammate Gene Cameron at the college. The two were playing football inside because it was too cold outside, Logan’s father said.
“He was playing quarterback and told Gene he felt tired,” he said. “He went over to the drinking fountain and collapsed. He was still breathing when they got him off the floor … but by the time they got him to the hospital, he was clinically dead.”
The father told how his son often talked of someday playing professional football.
“That was Don’s love. He said, `Daddy, you’re gonna see me on TV because I’m going to the pros,’ and I believed him,” Logan said.
South Coach Tom Adams described Logan, a three-year starter for the Wildcats, as a self-made player.
“We told Don after his junior year that if he got in the weight room and worked hard he could achieve his goals, which were to be chosen all-league and play college football, and that’s what he did,” Adams said. “Don epitomized what a high school coach wants out of a player.”
Dennis L. Porter Funeral Home in Springfield is handling arrangements.
Staff writer Bill Monaghan contributed to this story.
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