Duke Slater, the Pro Football Hall of Famer Who Became a Trailblazing Chicago Judge, Was a Member of Kappa Alpha Psi

Did you know that Duke Slater, the Pro Football Hall of Fame lineman who went on to become a pioneering judge, was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.? Slater was initiated through the Gamma Chapter at the University of Iowa in 1918.

Frederick Wayman “Duke” Slater was born on December 9, 1898, in Normal, Illinois, the son of a minister, and grew up in Clinton, Iowa, where he became a high school football star. He went on to the University of Iowa, and in 1921 he anchored an undefeated Hawkeyes team to a national championship, famously playing without a helmet as he opened holes in a legendary upset of Notre Dame. Slater became the first Black All-American football player and, in 1951, was enshrined in the inaugural class of the College Football Hall of Fame.

In 1922, Slater turned professional and made history again as the first Black lineman in the National Football League. Over ten seasons with teams including the Rock Island Independents and the Chicago Cardinals, he earned all-pro honors again and again, often as the only Black player in the entire league. His excellence was so undeniable that it helped hold off the NFL’s looming ban on Black players for years. In 2020, more than half a century after he retired, Slater was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of its Centennial Class.

Even at the height of his football career, Slater was building a second one. He returned to the University of Iowa in the offseasons to study law, earning his degree in 1928, and began practicing in Chicago. In 1948, he was elected to the Cook County Municipal Court, becoming only the second Black judge in Chicago’s history. He rose steadily from there, and in 1960 he became the first Black judge to serve on the Cook County Superior Court, then the highest court in the city.

Duke Slater died on August 14, 1966, at the age of 67. His legacy endures at his alma mater, where a residence hall and the field at Kinnick Stadium both bear his name, and his life of achievement on the gridiron and the bench reflects the Kappa Alpha Psi motto, “Achievement in Every Field of Human Endeavor.”