By Nathan Deen
Published on November 21, 2007
Former PJC student and flag football player Kirk Slay will be inducted in to the National Flag Football Hall-of-Fame on Dec. 30. Slay was overwhelmed and surprised when he received the news.
“I didn’t expect to get inducted so soon,” Slay said. “I still play at UWF and I guess I’m the first person to be inducted who is still an active player.”
Slay said he owes much of his success to coach and intramural coordinator Doug Rogers.
“I would expect [he] would have made it before I did,” Slay said. “He is the person I have to thank because without him I would have never been as successful as I have been. During the induction ceremony, I will probably be nervous but excited at the same time. Knowing that Doug will be there, will be comforting for me.”
Slay attended and played flag football at PJC from 2004-2006. Slay made numerous accomplishments during that span that helped him to be voted into the hall-of-fame. In 2005, his team, named Yahtzee, won the national championship. In 2004, his team was the national runner-up and in 2006 his team made the national quarter-finals. He was named a defensive MVP in 2004 and 2005 and a defensive All-American for all three years he played.
“Kirk is a great representative for the intramural department and PJC,” Rogers said. “It is a great honor, not only for Kirk but for PJC as well.”
Slay said that his fondest memory of playing flag football at PJC was when he made the game clinching interception in the national championship game.
“There was about 15 seconds left,” Slay said, “and they threw the ball into the end zone and I picked it off to win the game. That year we didn’t have the most athletic team but had a team who tried their hardest and didn’t ever give up and it paid off.”
Slay and his flag football team at the University of West Florida will be participating in this year’s national championship tournament in New Orleans, which will take place from Dec. 29-31.
“I am just hoping to win another national championship at UWF as a quarterback,” he said.
Along with being accepted into the hall-of-fame, Slay also has a chance to win a second national championship.