Ed. Note: After an extended summer break, Go Iowa Awesome is back and ready for action. We'll be getting you ready for the upcoming 2021-22 Hawkeye sports season with new posts every weekday going forward. -- Ross
The 2021 Iowa football season is set to kick off in four Saturdays and Kinnick Stadium will (as of this writing) be open to full capacity for fans. When Iowa fans return to Kinnick Stadium, though, they'll find a brand new sight on the field itself: the name of Iowa legend Duke Slater.
Breaking ground for the groundbreaker.#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/FPq5N0bL7T
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) July 30, 2021
Last week the Iowa Board of Regents approved a request to create Duke Slater Field, honoring the trailblazing Black football great from Iowa's past. Officially the name will be Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium. It's a long overdue honor for one of Iowa's greatest players.
Slater was a three-time All-Big Ten first team selection and the first Black athlete to earn All American honors. He helped lead Iowa to a 7-0 record in 1921. He was an inaugural member of the College Football Hall of Fame and (finally and belatedly) a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as well, gaining entrance as a member of the Centennial Class in 2020. After a long and excellent pro football career in the NFL (highlighted by All-NFL selections in 1923, 1925, 1926, and 1929), Slater returned to Iowa to complete a law degree and he had a distinguished career as an attorney and judge in Chicago over the next 30+ years.
Trailblazer. All-American. Hall of Famer. Hawkeye.
— The Iowa Hawkeyes (@TheIowaHawkeyes) July 28, 2021
.https://t.co/K2zC8w0ZfC | #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/gHgCgBAUO2
This is a worthy honor to bestow on one of Iowa's all-time greats, and an excellent way to celebrate a great man who was a trailblazer on and off the field. Well done, Iowa and we look forward to the 2021 football season getting underway at Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium.
