William "Bill" Logan

William Logan was born on December 30, 1934, in Keokuk, the son of William Archie Logan and Carla Huiskamp Logan, and the great grandson of Judge William Logan. He attended Keokuk public schools and graduated from Keokuk Senior High in 1952. In 1950, as a sophomore at KHS, Bill was moved to the varsity team and helped Keokuk win a place in its first ever Sweet Sixteen Basketball Tournament. By this time, he was receiving recruiting calls from colleges around the country and accepted Coach Bucky O’Connor’s offer to play for the Iowa Hawkeyes. He began at the University of Iowa with freshmen teammates Sharm Scheuerman, Carl Cain, Bill Schoof, and Bill Seaburg. Although NCAA rules prohibited freshmen from playing in collegiate games, their scrimmaging showed they were something special. As sophomores, O’Connor started the five against defending national champion Indiana, and they won by 18 points. By the time they finished their careers at Iowa, they were known as the Fabulous Five, with accomplishments unequaled in the history of Iowa basketball. Logan, at 6 foot 7 inches, was the leading scorer in all three years the Fabulous Five played together. In 1956, the Fabulous Five reached the championship game, where they lost 83-71 to the top-ranked San Francisco Dons, featuring future Hall of Fame center Bill Russell. Russell later said that Bill Logan was the greatest center he had ever played against. Logan still holds the Iowa record for points scored in a Final Four competition with 39 points in a 1956 Iowa win against Temple. He declined an offer to play for the Boston Celtics. He married his college sweetheart, Joan Tyler, in 1956, and they moved to Denver, Colorado, where he played one year in the NIBL with the Denver/Chicago Truckers. Logan returned to Keokuk in 1957 and began banking with his father at the family-owned State Central Bank. Bill and Joan raised five children in Keokuk. The Fabulous Five’s jerseys were retired by a resolution of the Iowa Legislature.

Keokuk, Iowa · United States