The women remember his all-American good looks.
The men remember him as the guy Mack Haynes nicknamed “Country,” but no one remembers why.
And it’s hard to find someone that doesn’t remember his playing days as a guard on the Mount Airy football team from 1943-1946.
Randall Sparger remembers more than most because he was Slate’s substitute on the team. Sparger spent 1944-’46 trying to keep loose on the bench while Slate broke records, won accolades and was generally one of the best guards to ever play in this region of the country.
Slate started every single football game for those three years, and also played third base for the baseball team.
It could have happened sooner, and it should have happened sooner, but this weekend Slate will finally get his due when he’s inducted into the Greater Mount Airy Sports Hall of Fame.
Sparger said he was in the area last year and noticed that Slate’s name was not on the monument.
“I asked around why he wasn’t on there and the answer I got was that he hadn’t been nominated,” Sparger said. “I didn’t know it worked that way, so I nominated him because I knew he deserved it.”
Slate doesn’t have any family left in the area, so that was the only reason Sparger could come up with as to why Slate’s name had not been added.
But it’s appropriate that someone like Slate could have been overlooked for so long. Slate never took credit for all his successes, choosing instead to raise up those around him.
Former teammate, Newton “Corky” Fowler said Slate was just that kind of guy.
“He was very popular and people liked him and wanted him to do well,” Fowler said. “But most of all Bill liked other people to do well and helped other people gain better things in life.”
Sparger remembers Slate similarly.
“Bill didn’t particularly enjoy being bragged on,” he said. “Of course he appreciated compliments I’m sure, but he sure didn’t go looking for them; he just did his job.”
But that doesn’t mean Slate doesn’t enjoy the recognition. He was pleased to be nominated, and even more pleased to be inducted.
“It means an awful lot,” Slate said. “I was surprised, I thought this thing has passed me by.”
It is a bit late, and memories can fade, people do move away, but the awards Slate won and the recognition he received are still in the record books. It was just a matter of time before his greatness was recognized in Mount Airy once again.
Slate played both offense and defense, and though he wasn’t the biggest out there, what he lacked in size, he made up for in aggressiveness and smarts.
Slate received All-State and All-Conference honors at guard in 1945 and ’46, and was also named honorary co-captain of the All-State team in 1946.
Also in 1946, Slate was recognized as one of the best guards in the south when he was named to the All-Southern High School football squad.
All that might make one believe that Slate was the leader of his football teams in Mount Airy, but his teammates remember differently. Slate wasn’t a vocal guy, and instead of encouraging people to play better with his words, he did it with his play.
“He wasn’t really boisterous, but he led by example,” Sparger remembered. “You watch Bill, and he’d inspire you to do the best he could, because he always did.”
Even his high school days as a popular guy at school are tame and tinged with politeness.
Sparger remembers a story where Slate stayed out a bit too late in Cana, Va., and his plan to thumb back home was thwarted by his lateness.
That long walk back gave Slate time to sheepishly think of his parents waiting at home who weren’t too happy with him.
But that’s the craziest story Sparger could come up with about Slate — that he still managed to make it home and slightly disappointed his parents for a night.
Slate took his football success and kind ways to the bigger city of Chapel Hill on a football scholarship. There he got a taste of what Sparger must have felt all those years at Mount Airy High as Slate played limited minutes and was often on the bench.
“It was quite a difference to go to Chapel Hill rather than be in Mount Airy,” Slate said. “The atmosphere is different, and people aren’t quite as friendly in a big school like that.
“I didn’t play as much in Chapel Hill as I would have liked, but that’s just the price you pay when you go off to college.”
It wasn’t all bad for Slate as he got to play with Charlie “Choo-Choo” Justice and went to the Sugar Bowl in 1948, and the Cotton Bowl in ’49.
And Slate didn’t let his inactivity on the field erode his skills at all. In fact, he went on to play more football in the Army in Fort Jackson, S.C., and he considers those two years the best football he’s ever played.
Slate’s time in the Army was also more time for helping out his former teammates. His time in Chapel Hill hadn’t changed that about him a bit.
When Sparger was a “rat,” Bill would take him AWOL off the base to his and his wife’s place for real food.
“That was really appreciated, a poor little trainee worn out and living off Army chow,” Sparger said. “I feel like he might have done the same trick for several other boys from Mount Airy.”
After his Army days, that was the end of football for Slate.
He went back to UNC for one year and received his degree in business administration.
He worked for a time in the furniture manufacturing business, and then went to work for Universal Atlas Cement Co. in Mississippi.
Slate was then transferred to Jacksonville, Fla., where he still is today.
Slate can’t make it up from Florida to attend the induction ceremony, but he said he was proud to be included.
“When you’re playing, you don’t really think about what it means to you,” Slate said. “We had a lot of spirit, it was just great.”
Contact Beth Mechum at bmechum@mtairynews.com or 719-1921.
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