Editor’s note: This is one of a continuing online series of profiles of the more than 12,000 Hoosiers who have died from COVID-19. The stories are from 12 Indiana newspapers, including The Republic, who collaborated to create the collection to highlight the tremendous loss that the pandemic has created. The series appears daily at therepublic.com.
Name: Paul Loggan
City/Town: Indianapolis
Age: 57
Died: April 12
One thing you learn in a business of covering high school sports is that athletic directors work crazy hours.
Paul Loggan certainly did. Loggan was a regular in the North Central High School gym, on the football field or driving a utility vehicle somewhere on the North Central campus.
Loggan, who died Sunday at age 57 after a battle with coronavirus, was like a lot of athletic directors that way. He probably had more to do than most at a school with an enrollment of nearly 4,000 and a strong tradition in several sports in Indianapolis.
But work ethic alone is not what made Loggan special. He almost always had his family by his side, whether it was wife Kathy, sons Michael and Will, or daughter Sami.
No matter how many hours he put in to his job, it was clear that they were part of the journey.
“They were always together,” said Warren Central athletic director Marques Clayton, a close competitor of North Central in the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference. “Kathy, too. It was clear that Paul was preparing his kids for the next step, whatever that might be.”
Michael, the Loggans’ oldest son, kept the public notified through social media of Paul’s condition from the time he was admitted to the intensive care unit and put on a ventilator at St. Vincent on April 1.
The outpouring of support from former and current athletes and colleagues at North Central and throughout Central Indiana was immediate and widespread. Loggan’s story was shared on national news television programs.
Michael Loggan posted an update on Easter with picture of a “Paul Strong” sign outside of North Central. “Happy Easter to all!” Loggan wrote. “Blessed to be a part of such an amazing community. Praying for that Easter Miracle! #Paulstrong”
Michael later posted that his father had passed away at 1:32 p.m. that day.
“He gave us everything he had and that’s all we can ask for,” Michael wrote. “My dad passed away today at 1:32 p.m. Dad know you have a whole team down here that loves you and please look after all of us. #Paulstrong”
— Contributed by the Indianapolis Star
