History, Harleys, sports and Samurai swords are long-time passions for History Professor Gabe Logan. Perhaps he can now add contract enforcement to this list.
Enforcement of the contract lies primarily with the NMU-AAUP’s contract officer, and Logan is completing his first semester in that role. “It’s a steep learning curve, but I enjoy stretching my mind in a new way and seeing this operation of the university,” said Logan. Dr. Logan was selected to replace Dr. Lesley Putman as the contract officer when Putman was elected as the chief negotiator for upcoming contract talks.
Logan is no stranger to union matters. Prior to coming to NMU, he was a secondary education high school teacher, and he was involved with the Missouri Education Association. He also helped organized a graduate union at Northern Illinois University where he did his graduate work. He has been active with the NMU-AAUP as a Faculty Council representative and has been involved in unions for 27 years. “I’m impressed with the union leadership that we have, and how much behind the scenes work that is done. I think it is a statement about the vitality of our union that we don’t have that many issues because they are headed off in Faculty Council. We have a smooth operating system because the union takes care of business and takes care of issues before they become magnified,” said Logan.
Dr. Logan’s teaching and research primarily focuses on twentieth-century U.S. History, Sport History, Immigration History, and Secondary Teacher Education. He is also the director of NMU’s Secondary History/Social Studies programs. “Sport history is my main field of study. Mostly, I look at immigrants that have come to the United States and have used sport as a way of amalgamating into the host society. It offers a lot of opportunities to look at history in ways that haven’t been observed in the past,” said Logan.
Some of Gabes’s work focused on how the mob used sports in the 1920s as a means of laundering money during prohibition. According to Logan, Al Capone’s mob used sports teams to put a good stamp on Capone’s reputation with immigrant communities.
Logan’s interest in sports history is an outgrowth of his own athletic journey. “I played fairly competitive soccer for about 40 years, and I have been in martial arts for about 40 years, and I still go regularly to Japan to train with my teachers over there. I study the sword, and I study unarmed combat, and I get humbled quite easily by both,” Logan said jokingly.
While Logan makes light of his ability, he is a black belt in Kobudo. It is old school Samurai fighting, and Logan is a Dai Shihan which is a senior teacher in the Bujinkan dojo located in Noda-Shi, Japan. When asked how he trains without getting seriously hurt, he replied, “I get cracked all the time. I just had a tooth knocked out a couple of weeks ago. The idea is eventually that will stop happening, but as I said, I’m still quite humbled by it, and I still take my lumps and learn my lessons.”
Gabe also enjoys motorcycle riding and motorcycle mechanics. “This probably speaks to being an historian, I have a 1939 Harley-Davidson motorcycle that I’ve owned for 20 years. I also have a new one, and my wife Kathryn and I like to go riding together when the weather permits,” he said. However, Logan admits the charm of owning an antique motor bike is sort of a love-hate relationship. “It’s always better when it is parked in the garage rather than the side of the road, but there certainly have been ample examples of both,” he laughed.
So, the next time you have a question about the contract, you will know who to call and know a little more about your contract officer. In closing, Logan said, “If people have a question about the contract, I certainly don’t know all of the answers, but give me a call and we’ll figure it out together.” Gabe can be reached at the NMU-AAUP Office at 227-1624.