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Eulogy - Logan Schatz

Logan Schatz's eulogy was presented at his funeral and is a part of the Humboldt Broncos memorial page with permission from his family.
Logan Schatz

Logan Schatz's eulogy was presented at his funeral and is a part of the Humboldt Broncos memorial page with permission from his family.

This is the easiest speech I have ever had to write, and at the same time, it will be the hardest speech I will ever have to say.  When I say this was easy to write, it’s because I am writing about a friend, Logan Schatz.  Logan Schatz…..over the past week I have talked to many different people from all over the country and every time Logan’s name comes up, it is always the same thing.   “I heard he was a great kid” or “Ya everyone keeps saying good things about him”.  And see, that’s just it….when people talk about one other in terms of the past and say nice things…those are things people just say, but with Logan all the things people are saying are true….he truly was the best, in all aspects of life, in every sense of what it means to be a great and wonderful person. 

The family asked me to speak to you today, in which I am truly honored.  I have known Logan and the Schatz family for the past 11 years.  I was Logan’s teacher and coach for the first 6 years and his friend for the rest.  I have said this before about the Schatz family…they truly are wonderful people.  A spectacular family.  And this is where Logan’s remarkable character has grown from.  I was able to spend some time with the family over the past few days where we told stories about Logan.  It was here I realized that the memories we have of Logan are how we will honor him, always remember him and keep him close to our hearts.  I would like to share some of those stories with you today.

At school, Logan was so full of life. He loved those around him and genuinely cared for others.  Everyone loved Logan.  Especially the girls in his class. I remember teaching Logan and when he was sick and not at school, every girl wanted to drop off his homework at his house.  It was not just about his good looks, I mean Logan was good looking; there was even man-crushes…..He was so respectful, so nice and courteous to everyone. We have all heard or known someone who is an exceptional athlete and how they choose to act arrogant or cocky.  This wasn’t Logan at all.  Logan was so humble.  He had time for everyone in school.  I have heard stories about Logan playing floor hockey with Ben…and Ben would be so excited his eyes would just light up when Logan was around.   I remember countless noon hours where we would be playing floor hockey and he was so good with the younger students; treating them with respect and leading by example.  He had patience for everyone; I remember countless times where Logan would selflessly partner with anyone in his class no matter the project or task.  I was often accused, “Logan’s your favorite!” by his classmates…..they were right.   You could count on Logan for anything and everything.  You always knew what to expect from Logan and could trust him in any situation. And his work ethic…. man would he work hard.  Logan was never afraid to put in the time.  Years ago, Brandon and I took an old back pack and tied an old tire to it….we used it to train for track…we didn’t have money for a parachute.  Logan used it a lot.  You would see Logan before school, late after school, on his own, doing wind sprints after wind sprints pulling the tire, trying to get faster and better.  The grass was completely worn away.  Logan worked hard at everything, especially when it came to sports or having a good time.

Logan was one of the most competitive people out there and he loved to compete.  This was apparent when he was just a youngster and his sisters noticed it right away.  The sisters would take advantage of Logan’s competitive nature by getting him to do their dirty work, their chores around the house.  All they would have to say is “Logan we’ll time you” or “Bet you can’t do it under 2 minutes”.  Logan would be hooked.  He would do their chores as fast as he could. But karma does exist and it came back to bite the girls in what is known as the Lake Olympics. 

The Schatz family loves to go camping, especially at Wakaw Regional Park.  They like it there because they are very close with the Park Security.  Anyways the kids have what they call the “Lake Olympics”…..imagine complete and udder mayhem combined with ridiculous competitive tasks.  Logan always wanted to team up with Brandon and the two would usually beat the sisters and their boyfriends. Consequently, the boyfriends would be golfing the ninth hole at Wakaw naked.

Logan did love to compete, especially against Brandon.  While on the road during ball hockey nationals Logan and Brandon found a bar with a video arcade and the two played every competitive video game just because they loved to compete and hang with one another.  The boys would even compete with each other while training for ball hockey.  Brandan remembers racing up and down a hill at Wakaw getting ready for ball hockey nationals.  This was a big deal because Brandon says they were “taking it easy” …this even postponed the “Lake Olympics” which the girls were not happy about.  Anyways, Pappy was training with Brandon and Logan and the three of them decided to run up and down a hill to train.  Apparently it was hot really hot; 30 degrees at least….. Logan and Brandon….up and down, up and down racing each and every time…..Logan would go so hard until he finally puked.  Needless to say Pappy wasn’t part of the race.

Even though Logan was very competitive that didn’t mean he wouldn’t respect his opponent or the game.  Logan and Brandon would frequently go golfing. Brandon would hit a bad shot and Logan would always make a good excuse for him….that wasn’t a very good lie or tough shot when the ball is below your feet…..This happened to Brandon all too often.  Even at track meets, Logan would always wish his competitors good luck before the race and always congratulate them after.  I am sure this was easy….he always won the race…but even if he did not win, he would still shake their hands.  This past week has generated thousands of pictures of Logan and one in particular speaks volumes about Logan.  There is a picture of Logan smiling while on the ice during a hockey game and he’s talking with a referee…..I could go on forever with examples of how Logan loved to compete and loved to win but also knew how to lose and respect his opponent.

Logan loved to be active and hang out with friends watching or playing sports.  The family recalls asking Logan to sub on their team during beach volleyball.  Logan was always too busy with hockey to play volleyball at school so he didn’t know the game very well. During the game, someone told him to play 6 back and he said yep no problem.  Not knowing what 6 back meant, he wisely waited for everyone to take their position and then filled in the gap.  Of course no one noticed until the game was over and he asked what does “6 back” mean?  Logan loved to watch his siblings play sports too.  Kayla spoke of a time when the 2 of them very much wanted to watch Meagan play volleyball in Colonsay.  Instead of taking the highway from Allan, they decided to take grid roads because they needed to save time.  Now, I am not sure how or why but they both got lost and had to return to Allan without watching Meagan play…it was foggy or something, not sure how you get lost going from Allan to Colonsay.  I remember a time when Logan, Mclaren and myself travelled to Moose Jaw for Track and Field provincials.  It was a boy’s trip and we were staying at the Moose Jaw Spa.  We got there the night before and had some time to check out the pool.  On the drive there I might have got the boys excited and gave them the impression the pool was going to be busy….like spring break or something.  Anyways the boys couldn’t wait, they got their swimming shorts on and ran down the hallway and raced to the pool.  By the time I met them at the water they were not happy.  Logan said, “Reinhardt, there’s nothing but old people here!”.  To make it up to them, I had to promise to take them to Manitou Springs.   Logan excelled that weekend, earning two medals both of which he was very deserving.  We were so excited. We could buy a provincial banner for the school.   We could finally put up a track banner in the school.  Logan’s name will be there forever.  

Logan loved his family.  Logan was a son, a brother and an uncle.  Logan was all about his family. 

Tyler remembers when Courtney gave birth to the first Schatz grandchild…..of course the entire family came to the hospital.  Tyler opened the hospital room door and there was Logan with the hugest, proudest smile you can imagine…..he then walks in the room and immediately sits down with his knees together preparing to hold his precious new niece, Claire.  Logan was a very proud and loving uncle. 

Courtney also remembers Logan prior to her wedding.  She had asked Logan and Brandon to welcome Tyler to the family.  Logan was like….yep no problem….we have it done already….to Courtney’s surprise Logan and Brandon were doing the welcome to the family whether they were asked to or not.  It was important for Logan to tell everyone and anyone how proud he was of his sisters. They were important to him.  Kayla remembered Logan pulling her aside very recently at a wedding.  He told her how important it was to him that she was happy.  Logan was very protective of his sisters.  I guess Tyler, Brendan and Cody have all met Logan’s standards.  Talk about a perfect little brother. 

Meagan too had a special bond with Logan.  Being the youngest two siblings of the family, Meagan and Logan spent a lot of time together.  She would often, and I am sure there are pictures as evidence, dress him up as a little girl.  Other times, Logan and Meagan would find themselves kicked out of some part of the house because of a party the older siblings were having.  And the two would get glasses of water…. many, many times just to come up the stairs.  They spent a lot of time trying to come up with excuses to get a glimpse of what was going on with the older kids. 

A great Logan-Brandon story….the two of them were golfing in a ball hockey wind-up in Allan.  The wind-up suddenly had decided to have a team BBQ after golf.  So the boys phoned home and asked Bonnie to make something for them to bring.   Anyways, the BBQ wraps up, everyone has finished eating, and then Logan and Brandon remember…shoot…they forgot to pick up what Bonnie had made!  They scurry home to pick up this giant bowl of macaroni salad and take it to the BBQ/party, the whole time acting like they haven’t ate supper yet.  Hours pass and they decide to go home very late and then realize no one has touched this macaroni salad…everyone had already ate too much.  Now most boys on their way home would have dumped this salad somewhere on their way home, garbage can, back alley….nope not these boys, they crushed this giant bowl of macaroni salad….on their way home and ate the whole thing.  They were stuffed. They couldn’t let their mom’s hard work go to waste.   Logan certainly loved, cared and respected his mother.  In fact, he said, “I love you.” to her every time they spoke on the phone with one another.  Didn’t matter who was around Logan at the time…friends, girlfriends, teammates, whoever, it didn’t matter to Logan…it was all too important for him to say “I love you” to his mom. 

Logan also loved his dad.  He looked up to him.  Kelly remembers golfing with Logan and they were on a long par 5 and needed to use driver off the tee.  Logan gets up, just drills his shot right down the pipe, and it goes far.  Kelly’s drive sounded the same but no one saw where it went.  As they go down the fairway, they find Logan’s ball but they still can’t find Kelly’s.  Kelly knows he didn’t hit it as far as Logan so they start to turn back to towards the tee-off.  Just then, Logan says “There it is!”  Logan was trying to be sneaky.  Logan knew exactly what ball Kelly was using, found the exact same one and tried to drop it for his dad without him knowing, just so his dad wouldn’t take penalty strokes.  This is a classic Logan story…..Logan going out of his way to make sure everyone around him felt better about themselves.  That’s the type of guy Logan was.

 

The family has so many fond memories of Logan:

·       Logan’s famous warm egg salad on toast

·       Logan’s love affair with ranch dressing; especially on rice

·       Logan loved his mom’s hash brown casserole and mini-meatloaf 

·       Logan and Keva watching High School Musical

·       Courtney pulling Logan’s name for Christmas…every Christmas.

·       Logan listened to Boston, April Wine

·       Logan would faithfully drink wine while watching the bachelor with the boys

·       Logan’s inability to tan

·       Logan getting left at the rink at young age and not caring a bit, he felt at home at the rink.

·       Burning his hand on the lawn mower, coming home from the hospital with a dressing and getting it wet by putting his hand in the toilet…..this might explain why he didn’t like toilets at a young age?

·       Logan was a sleep walker and sleep eater

·       Logan broke Jeremy’s nose with a golf club

·       Breaking windows with golf balls

·       Logan’s Disney Driver License

·       Mr. Bo Jangles

The truth is, there are no words that will give Logan the tribute and honor he deserves.  To honor him, we use the memories of Logan as a son, a brother, a cousin, a nephew, an uncle, a grandson, a boyfriend, a close friend, a student, a billet, a team captain, a teammate.  He was a beauty. 

Logan, in the short time you were here, you had a profound impact on the lives and people around you.  You made people want to be better, you made those around you better; we love you, you will be missed and we will always remember you.  Rest easy my friend.