Slater, Duke (19 December 1898–15 August 1966), football player and judge, was born Frederick Wayman Slater in Normal, Illinois, the son of the Reverend George W. Slater, Jr., and Letha Jones. As a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal church, Slater’s father moved around so frequently that as a boy he was left to live for long periods with his grandparents in Chicago. During these visits he recalled playing “prairie” football, a pick-up form of the game, at Racine Avenue and Sixty-first Street, the neighborhood from which would spring his future team, the Chicago Cardinals. His old friends speculated that Slater received his nickname because of a mongrel dog named Duke, which he owned as a boy....
