Former Navy SEAL and Penn State football player Rick “Hawk” Slater was hit with an emotional sneak attack Saturday, when a group of former Nittany Lions and longtime friends surprised him by revealing that a room in the university’s Student Veteran Center had been named in his honor.
Slater arrived at the event completely unaware that HE was the guest of honor, until close friend and former PSU football teammate Justin Kurpeikis blind-sided him with the news. Kurpeikis, a first-team All-Big Ten defensive end in 2001 who went on to enjoy a five-year NFL career, had to choke back tears while speaking to and about his buddy at the ceremony.
“That’s how much you mean to us,” Kurpeikis said (see the video above). “As we all put this together, the thing that we talked about the most was, for the rest of your life, and your son’s life … (he) will have a permanent place of honor. No one can ever take it away. It’ll be here forever. And all we hope is that every time he comes up here, some of us can walk in there with him — and with you — and tell stories about how much you mean to us. We love you, buddy, and we hope you enjoy it. So everyone…”
And with that, Slater, who appeared to be misting up himself, walked into the room called “The Hawk’s Nest.” A plaque said the room has been named “In Honor of Richard “Hawk” Slater, Our Teammate and Friend.”
One wall in the room features his No. 53 Penn State jersey framed and with a Navy SEAL Trident above it. A photo of him serving as a Navy SEAL is on one side of the jersey and a photo of him as a Penn State boxer (more on that in a bit) is on the other.
“Look at this,” Slater said as he entered the room. “It’s something else.” Hobbled a bit due to recent foot surgery, Slater was greeted in the room by former PSU offensive tackle Keith “Goon” Conlin, who gave him a big hug.
If you don’t know Slater’s story, you should. Out of high school, he spent 11 years in the Navy (the last nine as a SEAL) before walking onto the Penn State football team in 1998 — when he was 28 years old. Slater was a 6-foot-1, 248-pound defensive tackle, and despite the age difference with his teammates became a revered figure in the program due to his tenacity and fearlessness. He was also a member of the school’s club boxing team, and won the National Collegiate Boxing Association heavyweight championship as a senior in April 2001.
After graduating from PSU, he was living in Brazil when the events of Sept. 11, 2001 occurred. Slater immediately re-upped as a SEAL and spent another decade-plus serving the country around the world, including multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. His decorated career as a SEAL ultimately spanned more than two decades.
In the summer of 2012, when the Penn State football program was rocked by NCAA sanctions stemming from the Sandusky scandal, then-coach Bill O’Brien asked Slater to address the team. He obliged, and the 20-minute “Charlie-Mike” (continue-mission) speech has become the stuff of legend among PSU players from that squad, most of whom chose to stay and rebuild the program rather than transfer to other schools.
“The tradition now starts again with the new guard — you men,” Slater told the team. “Character, to me, is when all seems lost, and people are looking for fox holes and life rafts to jump in — or excuses to be made. There is that one guy who stays. He will remain, and says, 'Bring it on. Oh yeah, and make mine a double.' ”
“It was unbelievable,” linebacker Glenn Carson said later that summer. “It's definitely one of the speeches that I still think about today. It's kind of changed the way I think. He taught us what it meant to be on a team.”
For the 2012 season, O’Brien decided to honor the players who stuck with the program by allowing them to have their names on their jerseys — a first for Penn State. But even before that happened, longtime PSU equipment man Brad “Spider” Caldwell decided to honor Slater by presenting him with a jersey that featured his name on the back.
That very jersey is now framed and hanging on the wall in “The Hawk’s Nest,” the site of Saturday’s emotional sneak attack.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Thanks to retired United States Marine Steve Manuel for shooting the video above (it is must-see material) and the photos below.
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Former Navy SEAL, Nittany Lion 'Hawk' honored in emotional ceremony - 247Sports
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