Joseph Lawrence "Hunk" Slay made a life and career out of football.
Slay hailed from Fort Pierce, Florida. He was a member of the Scorpion Club, the O Club, and Delta Sigma Phi fraternity. On the field he wore #42 and was a guard.
Slay served in the US Army during World War II and suffered hearing loss from operating machine guns. His first high school coaching job was in Swainsboro, GA which lasted until 1946. He then returned to his alma mater Ft.Pierce/ Dan McCarthy High School and remained for 16 years. During that time he recorded 99 wins (remains the St. Lucie county record) and five Suncoast Conference championships. The Florida Highschool Athletic Associationlists him with 100 wins, so an exact amount is unsure. Coach Slay's philosophy was “winning is awfully important, but you can't let it overshadow all other values, and that athletics and physical education must be educationally sound to be valuable.”
Slay later served St. Lucie as athletics director then athletic coordinator, and was instrumental in creating the Florida All-Star Football Game, and coached the South team in 1956. He has held has held every elected office in the Florida Athletic Coaches Association and served on the FHSAA Board of Directors. Slay was an active member and officer of the St. Lucie County Recreation Board for decades until his passing. Slay retired in 1976, but was called out of retirement in 1979 to become Athletic Coordinator for the District. During this time he completed the first Athletic Policy and Procedures Handbook for St. Lucie County Schools. He was also instrumental in developing a covered play area for all of the elementary schools, which many school districts in Florida have adopted.
In 1964 and 1979 Slay received the Meritorious Service Award from the Florida Athletic Coaches Association for “coaches who have served the high school athletic coaching profession above and beyond the call of duty.”
Slay has also been inducted to the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame (1979), the Florida High School Activities Association Hall of Fame (charter class, 1991), and the St. Lucie County Sports Hall of Fame. His grandson Joby has preserved Slay and other coaches' legacies in the 2020 book
Get More for Coaches and a podcast by the same name.
"A coach will impact more young people in a year than the average person does in a lifetime."
– Billy Graham, written in a letter to Slay days before he passed.
