Frederick Wayman "Duke" Slater was an American football player and judge.
48 Facts About Duke Slater
2.
Duke Slater was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 and was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Centennial Class in 2020.
3.
Duke Slater joined the NFL the following year, becoming the first black lineman in league history.
4.
Duke Slater played ten seasons in the NFL for the Rock Island Independents and the Chicago Cardinals, garnering seven all-pro selections.
5.
Duke Slater earned his law degree in 1928 and began to practice law as a Chicago attorney.
6.
Duke Slater served as a Chicago judge for nearly two decades until his death in 1966.
7.
Duke Slater decided he needed shoes more, and he played every game at Clinton High School without a helmet.
8.
Meanwhile, Duke Slater's feet were so big that his shoes had to be special ordered from Chicago.
9.
When Slater arrived at Iowa in 1918, eligibility rules had been suspended due to World War I Therefore, Slater was able to play football as a freshman and earned four letters for the Hawkeye football team from 1918 to 1921.
10.
Duke Slater was chosen as a second team All-American in 1919, becoming just the sixth black player ever to earn All-American honors in college football.
11.
Kent showed a helmetless Duke Slater clearing a hole for teammate Gordon Locke by blocking three Notre Dame defenders.
12.
Duke Slater was named first-team All-Big Ten for the third straight year in 1921.
13.
Duke Slater was named an All-American for the second time, earning first team All-American honors in 1921 from multiple selectors.
14.
Duke Slater was just the third black player to earn All-American honors in two different seasons, following William Henry Lewis and Bobby Marshall.
15.
Duke Slater earned three varsity letters for the Hawkeye track team, participating in field events.
16.
Duke Slater placed third in the hammer throw and fourth in the discus throw while helping Iowa to a third-place finish at the inaugural 1921 NCAA Track and Field Championships.
17.
Duke Slater joined the NFL's Rock Island Independents in 1922, becoming the first black lineman in NFL history.
18.
Duke Slater was held out of the game because the NFL had a "gentlemen's agreement" prohibiting black players from participating in games held in Missouri; it was the only contest Duke Slater missed in his ten-year NFL career.
19.
Duke Slater played one season with Rock Island in the AFL before the league's dissolution.
20.
Duke Slater was named first-team all-pro by the Chicago Tribune in 1926, which chose their all-pro team with players from both the NFL and AFL.
21.
Duke Slater signed a contract with the NFL's Chicago Cardinals near the end of the 1926 season and appeared in their final two games that season.
22.
At Duke Slater's urging, the Chicago Cardinals brought in Harold Bradley Sr.
23.
Duke Slater played all sixty minutes in that game, the only Cardinal lineman to do so.
24.
Well, Duke Slater was a One Man Line a decade before that.
25.
In 1927 and 1929, Duke Slater was the only black player in the NFL, yet he was an all-pro selection both seasons.
26.
Duke Slater was named all-pro for the seventh and final time in 1930, becoming the first NFL lineman to make all-pro teams in seven seasons.
27.
Duke Slater retired after the 1931 season, and his ten NFL seasons ranked third in league history at the time of his retirement.
28.
Duke Slater helped give black football players a place to play by assembling and coaching several all-star teams of African-American players.
29.
Duke Slater served as head coach of the Chicago Negro All-Stars, the Chicago Brown Bombers, the Chicago Comets, and the Chicago Panthers.
30.
Duke Slater served as an assistant coach for the Chicago Negro All-Stars in a 1938 exhibition against the Chicago Bears.
31.
Duke Slater earned his law degree from the University of Iowa's College of Law in 1928.
32.
Duke Slater then practiced law in Chicago while playing for the Cardinals.
33.
Duke Slater was the second African-American judge in Chicago history, following Wendell E Green, who was elected in 1942.
34.
Four years later, Duke Slater moved to the Circuit Court of Cook County following that institution's formation.
35.
Duke Slater was an active booster and recruiter for the University of Iowa throughout his life.
36.
Duke Slater recruited dozens of prominent African-American athletes to Iowa City, including Ozzie Simmons, Jim Walker, Emlen Tunnell, Earl Banks, Harold Bradley Jr.
37.
Duke Slater married Etta Searcy in 1926, and they remained married until her death in 1962; they had no children.
38.
Duke Slater died in 1966 at age 67 of stomach cancer, and was buried in Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens South near Chicago.
39.
Duke Slater was one of just five football players inducted into the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame in the Hall's inaugural year in 1951, joining Nile Kinnick, Aubrey Devine, Jay Berwanger, and Elmer Layden.
40.
In 1946, Duke Slater was one of 11 players selected to an all-time college football All-American team by a nationwide poll of 600 sportswriters and coaches.
41.
Duke Slater was one of two Hawkeye players inducted that year, along with Nile Kinnick.
42.
Hawkeye fans voted for an all-time University of Iowa football team during the 100th anniversary celebration of Iowa football in 1989, and Duke Slater was selected as a tackle.
43.
Duke Slater was one of nine Hawkeyes recognized on the Wall of Honor.
44.
An apartment complex in Chicago, Judge Duke Slater Apartments, is named in his honor.
45.
Duke Slater was one of four players the PFRA officially endorsed for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, along with LaVern Dilweg, Mac Speedie, and Al Wistert.
46.
Duke Slater was listed as one of six "strong candidates" for election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame by the Associated Press in 1964.
47.
Duke Slater was a finalist for the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1970 and 1971, the first two years finalists were publicly announced by the organization.
48.
On January 15,2020, Duke Slater was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Centennial Class.