Remembering Coach Psych: Carver coaches remember longtime equipment manager Coach Psych who passed away last week (Ethan Bernal/Advertiser).
G.W. Carver football equipment manager Leonard McNary-Logan passed away April 3. / CONTRIBUTED
A few weeks ago, longtime G.W. Carver equipment manager — or “logistic coordinator” as he preferred — Leonard McNary-Logan told football coach Billy Gresham that his time with the Wolverines would come to an end after spring football.
Affectionately known as “Coach Psych,” the Carver alum helped the athletic teams for the last 22 years, running the equipment room and helping the coaches with whatever they needed.
Maybe he knew his time was running short.
“We were here over spring break and getting the equipment room ready. He kept asking about the new jerseys and pants we ordered,” Gresham said. “He said, ‘Let me know. I’m going to get that situated for you, and then, that’s it for me.’”
Gresham initially dismissed McNary-Logan’s retirement. But just a short time later, he passed away and left the Carver family with a void that won’t easily be filled.
“It’s just crazy that he knew at the time that something — either his health was declining or whatever — that he visualized that this was it for him,” Gresham said. “He gave us all he got.”
After collapsing in a store while shopping with his mother on March 30, McNary-Logan was taken to the hospital. Over a decade-long dialysis patient, his symptoms masked an infection that spread to his heart, and he passed away on April 3 at the age of 47.
His funeral will be at the Chapel of Phillips-Riley Funeral home at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Psych's dedication
McNary-Logan began volunteering with the school in 1992. He used to live near St. Jude across the street from Carver and would walk to the school every practice to prepare the equipment for the day.
When he moved off of Troy Highway two years ago, many feared his days of helping the Wolverines would be over. Instead, he would leave early in the morning to catch bus after bus, just to make it to 2 p.m. practice. Gresham would drive him home every evening.
The wear and tear especially took a toll when Carver started playing Thursday games. Despite the physical drain on his body doing his Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 8-10 hour dialysis sessions, he never missed a Thursday game.
“I noticed that his energy level wouldn’t be as high as it would be on Fridays,” Carver baseball coach Dennis McKenney said. “Eventually I sat him down and said, ‘Psych, you don’t look well.’ And he said, ‘Coach, I have to take dialysis on Tuesday and Thursday.’
“I would say to myself, ‘This guy actually comes up here to help us with the stuff that we really don’t want to do even though he has dialysis on Thursdays.’ And I thought that was just a testament of the type of person he was and how loyal he was to the school.”
The infamous pouch
McNary-Logan was never without his multi-purpose pouch around his waist, carrying all his necessities and more.
After stubbing his toe in practice, special teams coordinator John Mitchell went to his office to check the extent of the damage. It was then that McNary-Logan — and his pouch — made quite a first impression and sparked a friendship between the two.
“I took my socks off and everything to see about my toe. This guy walked in that I hadn’t met before, and we started talking and he told me his name was Psych,” Mitchell said. “He said, ‘Do you mind if I check it out?’ I noticed that he had a little pouch, so he sat down and pulled out rubber gloves, toenail clippers, some peroxide and went to work on my toe. The other coaches came back and saw me sitting there, and this guy working on my foot and thought it was hilarious. After that, we just had a relationship from that.”
McNary-Logan’s pouch wasn’t limited to medical supplies. He also carried his money, drinks, pen, paper, sunflower seeds, scissors and even long johns when the seasons changed. He also had Gresham’s traditional game-day gum, a ritual since Gresham began coaching at Carver in 2008.
“I always chew gum on game day, and he always bought a package of gum for me. Before we would break out of the banner, he would hand me that green piece of gum and say, ‘Let’s go get ’em,’” Gresham said. “That’s going to be really emotional for all of the coaches. He’s going to be missed on game day. He’s going to be missed, not only as a friend, but in the void he leaves in that back room.”
The nickname "Psych"
McNary-Logan was known for his in-depth analysis on the situation at hand. He told the Carver coaches he had degrees from multiple universities, and his knowledge could be applied to any situation, whether that be football strategy, the equipment room or life in general.
Even when he would help scout opposing teams, Psych would take notes on how other teams distributed their Gatorade during the game. During a football practice, a student was the first to award him the nickname.
“So he would always psycho-analyze every situation, even the blocking schemes or how to hold a bat in baseball or how to punt a football,” McKenney said. “And one of the boys said, ‘Man, you think you’re a psychological coach or something,’ and when he said that, everybody laughed and from then on, everybody called him ‘Coach Psych.’
“Everybody enjoyed him, being around him, and we’re going to miss him. I know I will.”
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