Youth Mentorship Group to Honor Jackie Slater

Jackie Slater, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2001, will receive a special award this weekend from a California-based group that mentors hundreds of young boys each year.

The fourth annual BOSS Awards will recognize Slater as its “Physically BOSS” winner. It’s one of six “BOSS” awards that will shine a light on the 5-year-old program that encourages academic coaching, mentoring and exposure to real-world experiences and opportunities for advocacy and service.

Slater certainly fits the bill as a player who defined “physical.” He spent 20 years with the Rams, playing 259 regular-season NFL games – the most by an offensive lineman at the time of his retirement. He was selected to seven Pro Bowls.

“Jackie had a career and devoted himself to blocking in the dirt so others could reach the stars,” longtime coach John Robinson said of Slater while presenting him for enshrinement.

Helping others reach for the stars accurately summarizes BOSS’s mission.

The leaders behind BOSS, which stands for Business of Student Success, believe “education is social justice.”

The organization seeks to “create an equal playing field in education for boys, especially boys of color and/or those from under-resourced communities and schools, by providing positive role models, multi-year and year-round academic guidance (STEAM focused) and coaching, life advice, career exposure and networking, resources and equipment to increase their chances for personal and professional success in all industries including consulting, engineering, finance, global trade, law, medicine, sports and entertainment and technology.”

BOSS supplements what schools and families are providing and seeks to ensure that boys who show promise in sports don’t end up being “athlete tracked” – over-focused on athletics to the detriment of developing their academic and interpersonal skills.

Opportunities and mentorship will continue through the boys’ high school and college graduations and into their professional lives.

This year’s Voices of Change gala, where Slater will be honored, celebrates business, civic, education and sports industry leaders and legends whose personal and professional accomplishments are aligned with the six BOSS pillars.

The gala will be held virtually and includes a silent auction fundraiser that is open to the public. To see available items and make bids, click here. The auction closes at 7 p.m. Saturday.

To learn more about BOSS, go to BOSSprograms.org/.