Education
Slater was educated at School, which he represented in athletics, cricket, football and tennis.
Slater was educated at School, which he represented in athletics, cricket, football and tennis.
He played his football with Hawthorn in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and competed in two Australian Championships (now the Australian Open). He was described as an exceptionally tall player who moves quickly to the ball. In 1940, Slater was appointed school captain, but suffered a setback in his sporting career that year when he broke his arm during a football practice match.
The following year he was a strong performer for the school"s cricket team in the Associated Grammar Schools competition.
He finished the year by winning both the boy"s singles and doubles titles at the 1941 Victorian Championships. Slater, as a 19-year-old, trained with Hawthorn in 1943 and impressed enough to be given six games in the second half of the 1943 VFL season.
He usually played as a half-forward. commitments cast doubt over whether he would continue to play football in 1945, but Hawthorn were able to convince to return for another football season. He only managed six games before he was forced out of the team on medical advice.
Slater"s tennis career was reaching its peak by the time he played his last game for Hawthorn, he was included in the Victorian interstate team which went to play in Adelaide in December 1945, a squad which included a young Frank Sedgman.
In the 1946 Australian Championships, Slater competed in the men"s singles and doubles draws. He received a bye in the first round of the singles, which meant he was to meet a fellow football player in the second round, Norwood player Tom Warhurst, easily defeated by Slater 6-0, 6-2, 6-4. He partnered John Heathcote in the doubles, the pair unable to get past the first round combination of Max Newcombe and Leonard Schwartz.
He also took part in the 1948 Australian Championships, but only in the men"s doubles, with Colin Pym.
They were narrowly defeated in the first round by Mervyn Rose and Donald Tregonning, 10-12 in the fifth. Slater was left a quadriplegic following a car accident in 1957 and became a patient at the spinal unit in Melbourne"s Austin Hospital.
He died in 1963, at the age of 39.
The Sporting Globe wrote that he had "all the credentials of a class player" and in the 1944 season he was a regular member of the Hawthorn team, with 15 games.