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In 1972, the UI President proposed re-naming Iowa Stadium to Kinnick-Slater Stadium. Is it time NOW?

There’s a huge relief in the north end zone dedicated to the incredible human being named Duke Slater. They can put his name anywhere and I wouldn’t complain. That guy has an amazing story that came to a tragic end.

Tragic end? He died at age 67 after a very successful life of stomach cancer, tragic I guess but hardly unusual. Tragic is Fred Becker dying at 22, killed by an artillery shell in France, but he played only one season for the Hawks while becoming their first All-American.

But yes, I do think Slater was slighted. Slater Field?
 
No, it is Kinnick Stadium, and has been for 47 years. Name (or build something) something else after Duke slater. Duke slater practice facility. Duke Slater Football complex etc.
 
Kinnick is Kinnick. NEVER Fn change it!

If they do, the next thing you know Barta will be selling the rights to Coca-Cola Stadium.



That proposal did not go over so well. So a compromise was made and they named the stadium after Kinnick and a residence hall after Slater.

As you can see below, tributes to Duke in the residence hall are absent. No permanent plaque is affixed to the building and no photograph of Slater can be found on the walls. No biography of Slater is displayed in the lobby, letting residents know why the building is named after him, who he was or why it is important that he be remembered.




 
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Face of pure evil.
Poster of pure stupidity.
No, it is Kinnick Stadium, and has been for 47 years. Name (or build something) something else after Duke slater. Duke slater practice facility. Duke Slater Football complex etc.
I like the sound of “Duke Slater Football Complex”.
Kinnick is Kinnick. NEVER Fn change it!

If they do, the next thing you know Barta will be selling the rights to Coca-Cola Stadium.
I’m fine either way, as long as they name the football complex after Slater.
 
I think tagging Duke's name on Kinnick, will look very insincere and politically expedient. The football stadium already has a name. Give Mr. Slater the honor of not sharing the distinction as well.

Btw, How come we don’t have any wrestling buildings named after AC Slater?
 
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I think tagging Duke's name on Kinnick, will look very insincere and politically expedient. The football stadium already has a name. Give Mr. Slater the honor of not sharing the distinction as well.

Btw, How come we don’t have any wrestling buildings named after AC Slater?
Exactly. Kinnick stands alone as an important and tragic figure in Iowa football history, and deserves the stadium all to himself (in just 2 years, it'll be the 50th anniversary of the renaming of Kinnick Stadium). But I could see naming the field after Slater, or another athletic-related complex (I think he deserves more than an old dorm at this point). And the new bas-relief/sculpture was a great idea. That's a great tribute as well.
 
I say no, but only because it would come off as forced and far less meaningful now than had we took the initiative back then.

I definitely wouldn't be opposed to a statue, or the Duke Slater Iowa Football Performance Complex.

Everything you said
 
JFC. Kinnick won the heisman and is a war hero.
Shut them tfu.

The Heisman (and several other major awards) didn't exist yet when Duke Slater played.

Duke Slater was the first black player inducted into the CFB HOF. One of five Hawks in the Pro Football HOF. 7x All Pro. Second Black judge in Chicago history.

Nile Kinnick is clearly deserving of the honor. Duke Slater is too, which was Dr. Boyd's original point when recommending the name of the stadium.
 
Whats the point. Racism occurs in plenty of buildings named after non while people. Doyle and company would have still been bigots and racists
 
Wow people are realllllly stretching to find dirt now

No, this wasn't about finding dirt. It was a "why hasn't anyone told me about this before?" moment.

It was surprising how many people (including residents of Slater Hall) said they had never heard the story about Kinnick-Slater Stadium before.
 
Whats the point. Racism occurs in plenty of buildings named after non while people. Doyle and company would have still been bigots and racists

True. Naming the stadium certainly won't fix all forms of racism.

Someone on Twitter made this comment. It's relevant here:

"It’d be a gesture that actually means something. Not every change has to be some silver bullet that ends racism."
 
Poster of pure stupidity.

I like the sound of “Duke Slater Football Complex”.

I’m fine either way, as long as they name the football complex after Slater.

The complex (and buildings within) are all named already.

The Hayden Fry Hawkeye Football Complex naming is honorary (e.g. no donations were made).

The Hansen Football Performance Complex and Kenyon Football Outdoor Practice Facility were both named after donors.
 
Everything you said
I think tagging Duke's name on Kinnick, will look very insincere and politically expedient. The football stadium already has a name. Give Mr. Slater the honor of not sharing the distinction as well.

Good point about political expediency. This is a tough one. Moving quickly to get something done is also a significant and meaningful gesture. It's also much easier to get things done in a crisis.
 
No, this wasn't about finding dirt. It was a "why hasn't anyone told me about this before?" moment.

It was surprising how many people (including residents of Slater Hall) said they had never heard the story about Kinnick-Slater Stadium before.
You're probably right, I kinda skimmed through the tweets and with the current climate just assumed they were trying find other anecdotes of the University being racist. I'm all for them changing the name and doing more to honor African-American athletes as long as it's done for the right reasons. If the University is just doing it to appease an angry mob of outsiders then I think that makes it an empty gesture based on fear not merit.
 
Cole Grolmus is a guest columnist for the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

"Guest columnist" is just a title they use for contributors.

The Gazette saw the original Twitter thread and asked to publish a version.

I am not a regular contributor and have no formal affiliation with The Gazette.
 
You're probably right, I kinda skimmed through the tweets and with the current climate just assumed they were trying find other anecdotes of the University being racist. I'm all for them changing the name and doing more to honor African-American athletes as long as it's done for the right reasons. If the University is just doing it to appease an angry mob of outsiders then I think that makes it an empty gesture based on fear not merit.

We (the university) has a lot better history with racial equality and social justice than people realize. We're certainly not perfect. We're much better than instances like now make us appear to people outside the university.

It's a good time to ask the question: Did we make the right decision about Kinnick-Slater in 1972? It's almost 50 years later. Time for a fresh look.

Consensus may still be that we did. If not, we can fix it. To your point – if we're sincere about the change and do it for the right reasons (e.g. not for appeasement), it's worth considering.
 
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No because doing so would be pandering to the mob. And it wouldn’t be enough because nothing is ever enough.
Rename the stadium to Kinnick-Slater? Why not Slater-Kinnick?
Make it Slater-Kinnick? Why does a black man have to share the honor?
Drop Kinnick’s name entirely? Why do black people have to pay full ticket price?
No matter how many times you capitulate to the mob, hey always demand more.
 
Why can't we just leave well enough alone. People laying around thinking of all the BS.
 
No because doing so would be pandering to the mob. And it wouldn’t be enough because nothing is ever enough.
Rename the stadium to Kinnick-Slater? Why not Slater-Kinnick?
Make it Slater-Kinnick? Why does a black man have to share the honor?
Drop Kinnick’s name entirely? Why do black people have to pay full ticket price?
No matter how many times you capitulate to the mob, hey always demand more.

So, discourse is bad?

Remember that capitulating to the mob is how it got named Kinnick Stadium in the first place. It would have been Kinnick-Slater Stadium, like Dr. Boyd recommended, if not for a mob that wanted Slater's name removed.
 
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The committee literally took another player's name out of the recommended name. Because he was Black. That is absolutely dishonoring somebody.

Boyd made a recommendation. The committee went with only Kinnick BFD. Slater is well recognized in Iowa Football history.
 
The committee literally took another player's name out of the recommended name. Because he was Black. That is absolutely dishonoring somebody.
Are you sure that is the reason or are you taking someone else’s word for it?
 
Are you sure that is the reason or are you taking someone else’s word for it?

Good point. My statement was too absolute.

My opinion is that he deserved better than a dorm. Regardless of rationale. We also have the benefit of hindsight now, especially factoring in his Pro Football HOF induction this year.

Realistically, it's unlikely anyone will ever know the full rationale for certain. It's 50 years later. Most of the decision makers in the room at the time are gone.
 
The committee literally took another player's name out of the recommended name. Because he was Black. That is absolutely dishonoring somebody.

I am sure if I looked back I could find it, but who were the individuals back then who were on that committee?
 
Bears head coach and owner George Halas later said, “I can’t say too much about Duke Slater as a football player and as a gentleman. In the old Cardinal-Bears games, I learned it was absolutely useless to run against Slater’s side of the Cardinal line. They talked about Fordham’s famous Seven Blocks of Granite in the mid-1930s and what a line that was. Well, Slater was a One Man Line a decade before that. Seven Blocks of Granite? He was the Rock of Gibraltar.”[28]
 
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