Ferentz to speak at Clinton statue fundraiser
The Duke Slater Memorial Statue & Scholarship fundraiser will be held Thursday May 9, at The Church at Lyons, 2118 North 2nd St., in Clinton, Iowa.
To kick off the scholarship fundraising campaign, the committee is hosting University of Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz for a luncheon.
From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., there will be a short program on Duke Slater’s life and the planned bronze statue to be placed at Clinton High School. Around 12:45 p.m., Kirk Ferentz will speak.
“The goal for this scholarship is to have a four-year scholarship for a student,” Ryan Veenstra, committee member, said in a Grow Clinton release Monday. “Ideally, this would grow into a $2,500 per year scholarship. This event is to kick off the scholarship fundraising campaign so we can set the financial amounts. I’m thinking about an annual golf outing named after Duke.”
Duke Slater (1989-1966) moved to Clinton as a teenager in 1911 from Normal, Ill. He led Clinton High School to two state championships in 1913 and 1914. Duke attended the University of Iowa and led them to a national championship in 1921. He would go on to play 10 years in the NFL, while also obtaining his law license.
“For whom the scholarship will go to, we are focusing on trailblazing leaders who excel in and out of the classroom and the athletic fields,” committee chair Gary Delacy said. “The scholarship will require students to reflect on Duke’s legacy and show why their life story and their trajectory reflect Duke’s story.”
After graduating from Clinton High, Slater attended the University of Iowa and earned three All-Big Ten selections, 1919-21. He was named a first team All-American in 1921 after Iowa’s national championship season, and joined the National Football League in 1922, becoming the first African-American lineman in NFL history, according to the website dedicated to the statue project.
Slater played in the NFL for 10 years (first for the Rock Island Independents in 1922-26) and achieved All-Pro status six times. He earned his law degree from Iowa in 1928 and practiced law in Chicago while still playing in the NFL. He became an assistant district attorney and an assistant Illinois commerce commissioner after retiring from football.
Slater was elected as the second African-American judge on the Cook County Municipal Court in Chicago in 1948, and elevated to the Cook County Superior Court in 1960, becoming the first African-American to serve on that court. Moved to the Circuit Court of Cook County in 1964, where he served until his death in 1966.
Duke was named to the inaugural class of the Iowa High School Football Hall of Fame in 1980. He was inducted as the first and only African-American in the inaugural class of the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951, and elected to the centennial class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2020.
Slater became the namesake of the football field at the University of Iowa when it was named Duke Slater Field in his honor in 2021.
In Clinton, the Duke Slater statue is in the final stages of being cast, created by Brodin Studios in Minnesota. It will be finished sometime this summer, and there is a planned unveiling for the first home football game this fall.
“The statue is life sized, bronze,” said committee member Matt Parbs. “It’s been amazing to see the updates and see Duke come alive. The firm is great to work with. Locally, Paul Dotterweich has led the charge with Josh Mussman on the pocket park. Amazing work by all.
“The vision is that every Clinton High student for a century and all the visiting students walk by Duke and realize their paths are not set, they set them,” Parbs added.
Tickets for the May 9 fundraiser are $25, and a table is $200. To make reservations, email Deb Deters at debra.deters@csdkq.org or call 563-243-7540, extension 7022. There is also an online option to purchase tickets HERE.
For more information about the statue, Duke, and the scholarship, click HERE.
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