OJ Logue overcame deafness, speech impairments and severe asthma to establish the mental and physical determination to achieve success through running. He credits his family for always believing in him. He credits high school coaches Cliff McCormick, Stan Cowan and Tim Kinney for their invaluable help in the early years, along with college coaches Lloyd Slocum and Brian Gillespie. He gained invaluable knowledge from Bob Sholl, Frank Hoetzle, Kurt Lauenstein, Hank Pfeifle, Andy Palmer, Danny Paul, Bruce Freme, Larry and Gary Allen, Roger Guerin and Peter Millard, among others, for their road racing advice.

By the time he had graduated from Orono High School, OJ had starred on three state championship track teams. He would serve as captain for all three teams – cross country, indoor track and outdoor track. In 1973 he took 4th place in the state 2-mile championship, and in 1974 he was 2nd in the state 1000-yard competition. En route to the 1974 state meet, he won the 2-mile event at the Penobscot Valley Conference Championships and then took 4th in the event at the state outdoor championships.

In 1977 he graduated from the University of Southern Maine where, in his sophomore year, his 4th place finish in the NAIA regional qualifying meet in cross-country earned him an invitation to the national competition.

After earning his B.A. from USM. OJ earned his Master’s degree in education from the University of Maine at Orono in 1981 and later his Doctorate in education from Vanderbilt University in 1992. He is currently the Associate Dean of Academic Services for the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine. He has served on countless local, state and federal boards, councils and commissions all related to bettering the lives of people with special needs. He has also coached both cross country and track athletes, at Bangor and Orono high schools, and at UMaine.

1981 was a very memorable year for OJ. Among the road racing performances he is most proud of these were posted that very year: Boston Marathon, 1st Maine finisher, 2:26:06; Maine Coast Marathon, 1st Maine finisher, 2:27:44; Kingfield 10-K, 31:47; Tour du Lac 10-miler, 52:47; Bar Harbor Half Marathon, 1:11:37.

Also, in 1981, OJ Logue became the first Maine Deaf Olympian, representing the United States in track and field at the Deaf Olympics in Cologne, West Germany. At the U.S. trials he finished in the top three in three different events – 5K, 10K, and 25 K. At the Games in Cologne, OJ set personal records for himself with a 15:01 clocking in the 5K, good enough for 7th place, and 31:36 in the 10K, for 6th place. He also took 6th place in the 25K. In 1982, OJ was the first Maine finisher in the Maine Coast Marathon (2:27:44).

OJ would qualify for the Deaf Olympics of 1985, held in Los Angeles, but have to drop out of the marathon due to a bad ankle that he had broken in February of that year. He made his third U.S. team, for the New Zealand games in 1989, but did not compete because of a family illness.

OJ’s greatest satisfaction came not from racing against individuals but rather participating is charitable runs such as the Rowdies 400 mile relay, which he ran five times. In 1982, OJ ran a 30-mile solo benefit run that raised over $9,000 for the family of Adam Hodge, an 8-year-old battling leukemia. It was during this run that OJ actually met the love of his life, Barbara, a fellow runner and fantastic supporter of his running endeavor. Today, OJ and Barbara Logue have three children, Amanda, Peter and Robbie, and the family lives in Southwest Harbor.