Asheville — (WLOS) Western North Carolina lost one of its Mount Rushmore of local sports icons Wednesday. Henry Logan, who starred at Stephens-Lee before going on to an accolade-filled college career at Western Carolina, died at the age of 78 years old.

 

"Henry was very humble and served our community well," remembered family friend Eugene Ellison. "He was a Christian man, believed in God; so we know he went to a great place because he lived a great life."

Logans great life is the stuff of legends. On a given night, maybe a few hundred could pack into a gym to watch him play; yet, tens of thousands survive to tell the stories. Logan dominated hardwood, blacktops, and any other surface on which a basketball can bounce.

His talent earned him a scholarship to play for Western Carolina, which made him the first African-American scholarship athlete at a predominantly white institution in the state of North Carolina. It's believed, yet unconfirmed, that he was the first Black scholarship athlete in the southeast.

"He paved the way for Michael Jordan and the great basketball players of today," stated Ellison. "Before there was Michael, there was Henry."

Logan always maintained that his Western teammates and classmates never treated him poorly, but the road crowds were a different situation.

"When somebody asked Henry, 'How did they treat you when you first started playing and you were the only black playing?' He'd say, you know - I could hear them calling my name and calling me different kind of names, but every time they called me a name I'd score more points," smiled Ellison. "He never let it bother him personally because he had a mission and the mission was to be the best basketball player."

That mission was successful in Cullowhee. Logan averaged 30.7 points per game in his four years as a Catamount (1964-68) and is the only player in NCAA history to tally 3,200 or more points and more than 1,000 assists.

Logan was drafted in the fourth round by the Seattle Supersonics in the 1968 ABA draft and won a league championship with the Oakland Oaks in 1969. He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2000 along with Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski and former Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson.

After his basketball career ended Logan battled addiction for many years and revealed that he was illiterate, despite finishing high school and college. He eventually turned his life around and learned to read using the Bible. His later years were spent speaking to young athletes and helping others going through tough times.

"He had his history of problems like all of us, but Henry came a long way and he's one of our greatest citizens," said Ellison.

 

Funeral arrangements have not been made as of Wednesday night.