Henry Lee Logan

Arguably Western Carolina University’s best basketball player, Henry Lee Logan was a scoring machine known for being the first black athlete in the Southeast to play at a principally white college.

Logan was born on March 14, 1946, and began his basketball career wearing the number 24 for Stephens-Lee High School in Asheville, North Carolina. Like other athletes attending his all black high school, Logan sought out sports as a way out of poverty and segregation.

Logan played at Western Carolina University from 1965-1968, as a six-foot, 180 pound guard; he averaged 30.7 points over his career as a Catamount. As well as being a four-time NAIA and Associated Press All-American, Logan once scored 60 points in a game during the 1967 season.

In 1968 he was drafted by the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics and the ABA’s Oakland Oaks, Logan even won the ABA championship with the Oaks in 1969. Henry was inducted to the Western Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1990 as well as the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.

He was an inspiration to black athletes in the Southeast by showing them that they could make a better situation for themselves through sports. He now spends his time making motivational speeches and helping aspiring basketball players at youth camps.