Steve Logan outside The Shoe with Robertson's statue. (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

        The little guy wanted a job. He was only 12, but his mother had just asked his father to leave the house. For good.

        Steve Logan didn't want his mom to worry about him, didn't ever want to ask her for money. So he approached Clarence Newby, who co-owns the Male Box Shoeshine Parlor around the corner from where Logan grew up in Cleveland's Glenville area.

        Mr. Newby often saw the short, stocky youth walking around the neighborhood bouncing his basketball.

        “I just liked the kid, so we gave him a job,” Mr. Newby said. “He kept to himself. He would come in and listen. He wouldn't talk. He would take care of his business, and I liked that about him.

        “He was out there one day and kids were shooting dice. I called him aside and said, "You know what these kids are? Losers, man. You want to be in the winner's circle.'”

        Just look where Steven Deontay Logan is now.

        Today he is expected to be named the University of Cincinnati's fifth-ever first-team Associated Press All-American.

        The senior point guard is the No. 2 scorer in school history (1,940 points) — behind only Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson. He is second in career assists (441), first in career free throw percentage (.859), third in career 3-point field goals (252). He owns the school record for most assists in a game (16) and most consecutive free throws (32), and has played in more Bearcat victories than anyone (110).

        He came to UC an overweight player who struggled with his role and almost quit the team after two years.

        “He's grown up a bunch in just his approach to life,” Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins said. “Lo was really one of those guys who did as little as he possibly could in every endeavor he was involved in. ... He's not that way now.

        “When you think about the great players that we've had here and the great tradition, it's phenomenal what the little guy's accomplished.”

        Mr. Logan, who turns 22 on March 20, has matured into a team leader and is a top candidate for the first Senior CLASS Award honoring players who stay in school and complete their eligibility.

        “I'm blessed,” Mr. Logan said. “I'm grateful for everything I've been through in life. But I did it the hard way. People don't understand the inside of me. All they see is the outcome or the glory part, that I'm having a great couple years. It was hell for me growing up. I tend to hold a lot of things inside. But through all those years, I never gave up on myself. That's something I'll never do.”
       • • •

        The dope dealers were all over the neighborhood. Mr. Logan said two of his best friends are in a federal penitentiary, serving 15 years each for drug-related offenses. He has not seen either since he graduated from high school.

        But Mr. Logan was always surrounded by people trying to keep him out of trouble.

        It took a village, all right. And then some.

        “I told him: You've got so many people trying to help you, if you don't succeed, it's a tragedy,” Mr. Newby said. “I'll kill you myself.”

        “Without all that, he probably would've fallen through the cracks like a lot of other black men,” Mr. Logan's sister Lakeisha Adamson said.

        Everyone, it seems, was looking out for little Steve.

        There were Mr. Logan's five uncles — his mother's brothers. They insisted Steve accompany them to the playground all the time. They mostly wanted to make sure he wasn't around bad influences. “We tried to keep him surrounded by honest, hard-working people,” uncle Russell Adamson, 44, said. One thing they didn't understand was that Steve yearned to play, despite being younger and smaller; he didn't want to sit and watch. So he worked on his skills, waiting for a chance.

        There were his two grandmothers. Steve, Lakeisha and their mother, Melody Adamson, lived with Dorothy Adamson until Steve was about 6 years old. Even when they moved out, it was only two blocks away, and Steve visited Dorothy — whom he calls “Mama” — daily. Even now, when Dorothy, 64, knows Steve is coming home, she prepares his favorite foods: fried chicken, macaroni and cheese and butternut cake.

        Shirley Logan, Steve's paternal grandmother, lived downstairs in the two-family house eventually shared by Steve, his mother and sister. Shirley died last spring from complications related to diabetes. Steve has her face tattooed onto his stomach and when he is home in Cleveland, he refuses to go downstairs into her apartment, even though his grandfather lives there. “It's still hard,” Mr. Logan said.

        There was Melody Adamson, a single mother of two working as a bankruptcy coordinator for Huntington Bank, pleading with her employer for overtime so she could help pay St. Edward High School in Lakewood. The private school on Cleveland's west side gave Steve a scholarship, but that didn't cover all expenses. She worked out a payment plan with the school so Steve could go there.

        Mr. Logan grew up on Cleveland's east side and had to take three buses to get to St. Edward. He had to be there by 7:30 a.m. Sometimes Ms. Adamson would get up at 5:30 a.m., drive Steve to school, come home, then get herself ready for work. When Steve got his driver's license, she gave him her car and took the bus to work.

        There was Lakeisha, who has a degree from Bowling Green, is working on her master's at Cleveland State and substitute teaches at Wilson Middle School. She is 23 and like a second mother to Steve. When their father left, Steve worried about his sister. She was 14, mature for her age and concerned about Steve. “I knew he had this dream,” she said. “I just wanted him to stay focused. I do everything people ask of me. He does his own thing and asks if it's OK later.”

        Lakeisha and Ms. Adamson were at the UC-Southern Mississippi game Feb. 15 when Mr. Logan scored a career-high 41 points. They simply congratulated him afterward. “I'm proud of him, but I always tell him, "Just remember, I'm your big sister,'” Lakeisha said. “He always says I'm the one person who will keep him grounded.”

        And there was Mr. Newby, 56, who would give kids in the neighborhood $50 out of his own pocket if they graduated from high school. One year, he gladly forked over almost $1,000.

        He made a deal with Steve when he started at St. Edward: Finish up, and I'll take care of your graduation. Mr. Logan — along with Southern Cal star Sam Clancy and Wake Forest's Steve Lepore — helped lead his team to the Division I basketball state title. Mr. Logan was named Division I Player of the Year in the state. The day after the championship game, Mr. Logan stopped by the shoeshine parlor to share the news with Mr. Newby, who already knew. Mr. Newby handed Steve five $100 bills so he could attend his prom.

        During high school, Mr. Logan would work from 7 a.m. until midnight on weekends shining shoes at the Male Box. Its customers have included politicians such as former Mayor Michael White and football players such as former Cleveland Browns Hanford Dixon and Ozzie Newsome. Mr. Newby always told Mr. Mr. Logan to come to him if he needed a few bucks rather than consider getting involved with dealing drugs.

        “I thought I could make a difference,” Mr. Newby said. “I thought, if it works, then perhaps he can reach back and help somebody someday. I took an interest in the kid, and it paid off.”

        Mr. Logan once wrote an essay for school about the person who most influenced him. He chose Mr. Newby.

        “I get chill bumps when I hear his name,” Mr. Logan said of the man he calls “Uncle Clarence.” “He saved my life. I could've been out on the streets late at night, selling drugs, not going to classes. It would've been easy to do that because everybody was doing that in my neighborhood. He told me I didn't have to be that way, that I could be something in life. He told me don't be like everybody else. I'd do anything for him.”
       • • •

        Even with all the guidance and support, Mr. Logan said, there have been obstacles since he can remember. Some have affected him more than others, but each left its own scar.

        He was the man of the house at 12 years old and had to grow up too fast. Mr. Logan recalls having mixed emotions when his father left. “I was sad and happy,” he said. “He was disrupting my family; at the same time, I knew I had to be independent and not go to my mom for everything because my mom was already hurting emotionally.”

        Mr. Logan said he has no relationship now with his dad, also named Steven Logan, who lives in Maryland and tries to call on occasion. His father even showed up at UC's game at Wake Forest on Feb. 9 to see his son, who did not want to talk to him.

        “I'm always going to be mad about him not being there,” Mr. Logan said. “I always wanted to go to him if I didn't understand something or I had a question. I went to my uncles and other people, but I always wanted to hear my father tell me the right thing to do.”

        He is now a father himself. Mr. Logan's girlfriend, Kerry Cullinan, gave birth to yet another Steve Logan last month.

        “I want to be there for my son,” Mr. Logan said. “I know how it feels to grow up without a father. Even though I made it, it could've been easier.”

        His left arm is covered with a tattoo that reads “Lost Love Forever” with names and dates of relatives who have died.

        While Mr. Logan's family — on both sides — has always been close-knit, the bonds grew even deeper when Dennis, one of Steve's uncles, died from leukemia 10 years ago. Dennis was sick from the time he was 18 years old but still graduated from college. He was the most into sports, Steve remembers.

        “Even though we're older, Dennis was an inspiration to all of us because of what he overcame,” Russell Adamson said. “He made us all stronger.”

        Steve's maternal grandfather died in 1994 during a Sunday night dinner when the family was all together. He stumbled out of the bedroom and just fell down. Kidney failure, Steve said. He was a drinker.

        Steve's Aunt Mary — on his father's side — died in 2000. Then Shirley Logan last spring. That hit Steve the hardest.

        “It ain't been easy,” Mr. Logan said. “Nobody said it would be, though.”
       • • •

        His environment was ever-changing. Mr. Logan left the public school system and took a while to adjust to St. Edward.

        For one thing, every day he had to wear a shirt, tie and dress shoes to school — which his family could not afford. There were a few race-related incidents Mr. Logan said he had to deal with. And he was an overweight player often ridiculed by opposing fans.

        “They would clap their hands and say, "Logan's hun-gry' while he was at foul line,” cousin Rodney Adamson said. “The only way he could quiet the crowd was by beating them with points.”

        Mr. Logan soon adapted to St. Ed. Attending the private school was the best thing to happen to him, Melody believes. Steve was getting exposed to different cultures and a better educational experience.

        He desperately wanted to play basketball for the Cincinnati Bearcats and didn't hesitate once Mr. Huggins offered a scholarship. But for two years, those two strong-willed individuals clashed often.

        “I grew up a little more and understood I wasn't going to win with him,” Mr. Logan said. “In order for me to be successful, I had to put myself in his shoes as a coach. I had to be a little bit more respectful and not talk back. I thought I was being dealt a bad deal, but at the same time, I wasn't working as hard as I could. Maybe if I was working a little harder I would've played a little more.

        “Now that I look back on it, I know where he was coming from. I know that he was pushing me to be the best player I could be and he wasn't going to settle for anything less.”

        Mr. Logan wanted to leave Cincinnati after his sophomore year. He had all but made up his mind he was going to transfer and told Mr. Newby he was headed to Ohio State.

        Mr. Newby would hear none of that, telling Steve: “No, son. You're going to stick it out. You're going to call Coach Huggins aside and say we can work it out. If you leave and redshirt, that's quitting. I don't want to hear no more about transferring. It's not even up for discussion.”

        Steve decided to stay. Then in August 2000, Mr. Logan was stopped by police and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol. He ended up serving 72 hours of community service at Talbert House, attending classes on drug and alcohol awareness.

        Logan said he is grateful UC Athletic Director Bob Goin and Huggins stuck by him.

        “They've got people that care about kids here,” Mr. Logan said. “They didn't get all down on me like I killed somebody. They sat down and talked to me. They said, "If it's truly a mistake, you don't make mistakes happen twice, especially not the same mistake.' That woke me up big time.”

        It was after the DUI that Mr. Logan had to ask himself what he wanted out of his college career: Would he be a great player or an average player?

        Now Mr. Logan's name is everywhere in the Cincinnati and Conference USA record books.

        “There are a couple things that make me proud,” Mr. Logan said. “I made my mom happy and proud of me. That's big. She knows just like I'm sitting here right now (in Shoemaker Center), I could be sitting on a corner in Cleveland selling drugs. That's how easy it was. It was a 50-50 thing.

        “And I'm an overachiever to a lot of people. People back home are still amazed at what I have done, coming from the neighborhood I come from. When I go home and see the people's faces, they can't stop looking at me. That's a powerful feeling because I know they're proud of me.”

        The looming question, of course, is this: Will Mr. Logan's hard work, dedication, ability and knowledge of the game he loves result in a career in the National Basketball Association?

        All he knows is he is going to get an opportunity. When he thinks of it, all Mr. Logan says is, “Oh my god — the NBA will take care of my family for the rest of my life.”

        Cousin Rodney Adamson, who talks to Steve daily and is one of his closest friends, says he couldn't have written a better story. “I'm real happy about what he's done with his life. Even if he doesn't make it to the next level, with what he has accomplished in college, I really am proud of him. But the only thing they've got to do is give Steve Logan a chance.”

Logan grew as a player and a person

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