Deaflympics Bound: MDI Track Coach Faces June Deadline for himself and his athletes
May 15, 2025
SOUTHWEST HARBOR—Owen Logue is an inspiration to everyone he meets, according to the Maine Shakeout podcast.
That’s even more true about the people Logue coaches.
Logue, Maine’s first deaf Olympian has spent more than 30 years teaching and educating students, now he needs some help getting to Tokyo.
A current coach of the MDI High School track team, Logue is going to be coaching the USA Deaf Track and Field team, in Tokyo, Japan, but due to a lack of funds, he and the three athletes he’s coaching need help getting there.
“One of my most incredible honors has been representing the USA Deaf Track and Field Team as an athlete twice and now as the distance track coach of the same team. In 2022, I coached athletes in Brazil and will travel to Tokyo in November,” he wrote.
The XXV Summer Deaflympics in Tokyo, Japan, occur from November 15-26, 2025.
“Due to a lack of funding, each athlete and coach must raise $7,500 by June 10 to cover travel expenses. Take a look at the Mighty Cause website and consider supporting myself and any of the three athletes that I will be coaching: Marne Sullivan, Sevan Ikeda, and Hannah Kohler,” he said.
Donations are tax deductible.
Logue is no stranger to raising money for others. In 1982 he ran 30 miles solo to help Adam Hodge’s family as the eight-year-old battled leukemia. He ran the Rowdies 400-mile relay charity event over and over and over.
He’s also no stranger to stand-out running success. He was the first Mainer to finish the 1981 Boston Marathon. His time? Two hours, 26 minutes, 6 seconds. He was on multiple high school state champion track and cross country teams.
The Summer Deaflympics were founded in 1924 and is one of the world’s oldest multi-sport events. It is organized “by the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (CISS) and are recognized by the IOC,” according to its website.
The first Deaflympics in Paris brought together 148 athletes from nine countries. In 2022, Brazil hosted 2,401 athletes from 73 countries. Those athletes competed in 18 sports.
The US team hopes to host 35-40 athletes, all need to raise $7,500 each. That money will pay for uniforms, meals, travel, gear, and lodging. The U.S. Olympic Committee does not give any financial support to the athletes.
Logue was Maine’s first deaf Olympian. He’d been an associate dean of academic services at the University of Maine. He is the president of Percival P. Baxter’s Foundation for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children and Family since 2023. He’s been the head and the assistant cross country coach at Maine Maritime Academy, a special education teacher in AOS 91 (MDIRSS school district) and a distance running coach for the USA Deaf Track and Field team and was a founder of Acadian Running Camp.
His list of accomplishments are pretty endless and all are based on paying it forward.
The thing is that Logue knows how running, how being a part of a team can transform a life. He told the Maine Monitor in 2020 that when he became a runner in the 1981 Deaflympics in West Germany it changed him in a positive way.
“It did a lot to help me find who I am,” he told Stephanie Bouchard of the Maine Monitor. “The realization came that I no longer had to … pretend that I’m not deaf. Once I got past that and I started telling people I was deaf … it transformed my whole life. It gave me clarity about who I am and what my life goals and pursuits should be.”
This Maine Running Hall of Famer (2006) wants to be a part of other athletes having that same experience.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Rick Osann Art.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
OJ Logue: Maine’s First Deaf Olympian
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Could you ask them to send me their tax ID number? Robert Harris.