Cleveland County elementary school gym dedicated in honor of longtime area coach

SHELBY, N.C. (WBTV) - Today, a Cleveland County community came together to honor a man who spent his life coaching children and teaching them both on and off the court.

Coach Wayne Logan spent countless hours in the gym at Township No. 3 Elementary School in Shelby, using the game of basketball as a way to give back to local kids.

On Sunday, the community made sure his name will never be forgotten, dedicating the gym in his memory.

“Everything that he stood for, as a man and as a coach, I use today,” Logan’s former player Dion Malachi said.

Logan poured into the lives of the students that came into that gym for over 25 years because of a calling he felt to impact the lives of children.

“It takes a village to raise a child,” Logan’s wife, Sheila, said. And just know that if he coached your child, he was a part of that village.”

When Logan passed away suddenly this summer, those who knew him best knew the most appropriate way to honor his legacy was to dedicate the facility - and it will now forever be known as the Wayne Logan Memorial Gymnasium.

“Let’s make sure that people know when they watch this back, that Wayne Logan isn’t gone. He’s with us forever,” Donnie Thurman Jr., Logan’s cousin, said.

More than 100 people attended the ceremony, and because so many showed up, extra rows of seating had to be set up as the community paid homage to a local hero.

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