The Eagles had to make a decision while contemplating who to select during the third round of the 1973 NFL Draft. Rely on their detailed scouting reports, flip a coin, or ask a player they chose in the first round, tight end Charle Young, for his opinion.

They went with the latter.

"They asked Charle who he felt was the best strong safety that he played against in college," said Randy Logan, an All-America at Michigan. "Charle gave them my name because I had played against him in the (East-West Shrine Game and the Hula Bowl). I was excited just to get an opportunity to get into the National Football League.  I was somewhat surprised that it was the Eagles because all the contact that I had during my senior year was coming from teams in the southwest, especially the Dallas Cowboys.

"But it didn't matter. I just wanted the opportunity to play. To get that call was very exciting. Here was a team in the National Football League that was calling me and saying that they were picking me and would I like the opportunity to come and play with them? And it was just a resounding yes! Yes, I would love to do it!"

It showed. After becoming a starter during Training Camp, Logan led Philadelphia with five interceptions during his rookie season.

"The transition was good because each step allowed me an opportunity to enhance my ability to do what I really wanted to do in life, and that was to play ball," Logan said. "I think I was very blessed to have that gift and desire and fortitude to stick with it in the midst of circumstances. And there were some circumstances where I could have easily quit and said, 'Forget this.' But because it was something that I really wanted to do, I overcame those obstacles."

Logan and the Eagles faced obstacle after obstacle for five seasons until 1978, when they reached the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. The key?

"Coach (Dick) Vermeil, no doubt about it," said Logan. "We started on an uphill climb in '78 and it was definitely the fortitude and the discipline and the stick-to-it-approach that Coach Vermeil brought to the team. He was a dedicated worker, a discipline-oriented coach. You would appreciate what he was doing as time went on and we began to win and do better than we had done. And that was a tribute to the type of format that he brought."

In 1980, Vermeil brought the Eagles to the threshold of the Super Bowl XV title. The Oakland Raiders, however, stood between Philadelphia and the Lombardi Trophy and walked away with it after winning, 27-10.

"I didn't expect to lose or want to lose," Logan said. "It was such a unique experience. I'll never forget when we beat Dallas at home (in the NFC Championship Game). When the gun sounded which ended the game, I just fell to my knees right there on the field and my mind was like, 'We are in the Super Bowl! We are in the Super Bowl!'

"We were greatly privileged because how many individuals have an opportunity to do that? The number of players that have played in the league and never had the opportunity to experience this … I said, 'Hey, I've got the opportunity to experience something that a lot of players wished they had.' It was a great experience from that standpoint. I wish we could have won it, but still, I thank the Lord for being a part of it."

Retiring after the 1983 season, Logan, a two-time Pro Bowl selection, didn't miss a single game during his 11-year career. His streak of 159 consecutive games played is second all time to Harold Carmichael in Eagles' history.

"I have to attribute it to the goodness of the Lord," said Logan, who had 23 career interceptions. "To do all that in 11 years, the constant hitting and playing and everything, it had to have been His mercy to watch over me because a lot of players that I've seen definitely didn't last that long.

"I had the aches and the pains and the dislocated fingers and that sort of thing, but nothing really major to keep me out. It could have happened to me, but through the grace of the Lord, it didn't."

Last September, after 13 years, Logan retired as the assistant dean of student affairs at Saint Gabriel's Hall, a reform school for 12- to 18-year-old boys in Audubon, Pennsylvania. Well, maybe retired isn't entirely accurate.

"I'm looking at this as an occupational change," Logan said. "I don't want to consider it as a retirement and do nothing. What I'm doing presently is studying things in regards to the market. I used to work with PNB, Philadelphia National Bank, in my second or third year in the league, when the credit cards came out. So I'm looking at IMD, iMerchant Direct, as an agent with them, selling their card processing service. I'm in the training process with them." 

Making his home in suburban Philadelphia, Logan and his wife, Janice, have three adult sons: Jonathan, Jordan and Wesley.