Early this morning the 2020 NFL Hall of Fame electives were announced by the National Football Hall of Fame. Among them include Jim Covert of the 1985 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears.
Covert was a sixth-round overall pick in the 1983 NFL Draft. “Jimbo” paved the way for the offensive line that was lead by Hall of Fame Running Back Walter Payton for the Bears to win Super Bowl XX.
Earlier this year he earned the No. 13 honor on the Chicago Bears’ top 100 players list.
Among the other Chicago Football elite elected into the HOF included former Chicago Bears Defensive End and Linebacker Ed Sprinkle who played for the team from 1944-1955. Sprinkle was once known as the “meanest man in football” and helped the team win the 1946 NFL Championship and was a four-time Pro Bowler. He was a prototype player for the modern linebacker.
Sprinkle passed away from natural causes in Palos Heights, IL in 2014.
Frederick Wayman “Duke” Slater, a member of the Chicago Cardinals from 1926-1931 was one of the first African American lineman in the NFL. Slater is regarded as a hugely important figure in the evolution of the social integration of the game during the early twentieth century. Slater was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. He played college football at the University of Iowa and attended the University of Iowa College of Law and earned his law degree in 1928.
In 1948, he was elected to the Cook County Municipal Court. He was only the second African American judge in Chicago History.
The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place later this summer in Canton, Ohio.
