Free Press –
Jack Slotter Remembered
Dear Friends,
Good morning. In last week’s letter, I promised that I’d comment on a Washington Post’s op-ed column which suggested that the U.S. Constitution should be amended in order to recall an unpopular President and Vice President…rather than impeaching them. That and Mr. Bush’s uneducated comparison of the Iraq and Vietnam Wars will have to wait for another time.
The passing of John N. Slotter on July 17 has preempted those stories. Jack was a remarkable Quakertown athlete and an old friend. He had a long and distinguished career with Johnson and Johnson, living in Arlington, Texas.
Both of us had much in common. We were only children. We enjoyed our boyhood days, though he was a much better athlete and student than I. We grew up in the second ward of Quakertown and were classmates during our elementary and junior high school days. Our neighbor and school mate was Phyllis Rantz. As early as the seventh grade, I think all of us knew that Phyllis and Jack would marry one day. They did.
In his sixties, Alzheimer’s attacked him. The disease prevented Jack from returning to our 50th high school reunion. He was only 72 when it finally killed him. After I learned of his death, I called three of his high school and college teammates for their remembrances.
Gordon Brown was Jack’s classmate at Lafayette College. “He was a great friend and a terrific athlete,” Brown began. “I had the pleasure of being Jack’s fraternity brother. We played on the same football and baseball teams. Jack was the best all around athlete in the class of 1957.
“For three straight years, Jack started every game in two major sports,” Brown continued. “He was a Co-captain of the football team and Captain of the baseball team. Jack deserves to be in Lafayette’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
“He only weighed 145 pounds soaking wet but was the toughest player I ever saw,” Brown said. “Jack was the best tackler we had on the team. If he hit you, you knew it.”
Jack and Gordy Brown met on the football practice field in their freshman year. In those days, players couldn’t play varsity sports until their sophomore year. Freshmen had their own teams. Jack was the frosh team’s quarterback and a good passer. In his sophomore year, the coach switched Jack to right halfback where he could take advantage of the half back option [the quarterback can either run or lateral the ball to the half back]. Brown played left half back.
“Jack was just as good at baseball,” Brown said. “Jack had exceptional eye and hand coordination. His batting average for three years exceeded .300. But I remember him most as a gregarious, fun loving people person. Jack was an amazing athlete…an amazing guy.”
John Moyer was Jack’s classmate at Quakertown High School and played on the same football, basketball, and baseball teams. When Moyer went to Lehigh University, he played against his friend who’d chosen Lafayette College instead.
“Jack was diligent at training,” Moyer began. “Weights and body building were not done in our time…especially for the backs. Jack weighed only 135 pounds and his mother worried that he didn’t weigh enough. She’d allow Jack to have an occasional beer so he could put some weight on.
“He was a fearless tackler,” Moyer continued. “Jack wasn’t afraid to bang into much larger people. That couldn’t have been good for him.”
Moyer was the QHS quarterback until he broke his foot in the last game of his senior year against Pennridge. Jack Slotter took up the slack. “He ran the ball every other play and exhausted himself in that game,” Moyer said.
Moyer reminded me that there was little protection for football players. “On the eighth grade football team, we wore hand-me-down uniforms. And we only had sponge rubber in the leather helmets, and no face guards.”
Austin Short also played with and against Jack Slotter. At QHS, they played both offense and defense for four years. On offense, Short was an end; and Slotter, a halfback.
“Jack and Johnny (Moyer) were the best friends I ever had, Short began. “Jack was one of those fearless players. He often got knocked out…almost every game,” Short remembered. “But off the [football] field, Jack didn’t have an enemy. Everyone loved him.”
Short went to Lehigh University and played four football games against his old Quakertown friend. They split evenly, two games won and two lost. Short remembers one embarrassing moment at the annual Lafayette-Lehigh game.
“It was the opening kickoff in our senior year,” Short said. “The kick was short and headed my way. I took my eye off the ball because I was looking for Jack and the ball hit me on the helmet. I think Jack recovered the fumble. Lafayette scored in the first two minutes. Fortunately we [Lehigh] finally won.
“I have movies of that game,” Short added. “It’s funny now but it sure wasn’t then.”
Like John Moyer, Austy Short remembers those days in Quakertown and spending time in the Slotter apartment above the present Moyer’s Shoe Store. “After school, we’d watch TV on a black and white set,” he said. “They were the best of days.”
At Jack’s memorial service, his grandson, Michael Dombroski addressed the congregation about his grandfather’s [baseball] coaching ability. “My grandfather always knew what I did wrong when I didn’t hit the ball well,” Dombroski began. “It was always my right hand. Sometimes he would cleverly disguise his message [to me] through my mother bringing a Gatorade over to the dug out. And just before she headed back to the stands, she would quickly say: “Pop says get that right hand in there!”
Jack Slotter was a prince of a guy. A few days ago, I was sitting in Charlie Brader’s barber chair and told him that I was writing about Jack. Charlie remembered cutting Jack’s hair only once. “It was amazing,” Charlie recalled at that chance meeting. “In just 20 minutes, it was like we’d known each other for a lifetime. He was such a likeable fellow.”
Charlie also told me an amusing story about Jack’s father, which you must hear when space permits. Jack’s uncle, John Smoll, a well-known Quakertonian, recounts the story of a youngster’s comment as he left the school bus driven by Jack’s father. Stay tuned.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith