Curt Slaughter played a key role in Fort Lewis College’s emergence as a national powerhouse in men’s soccer. A four-year letterwinner and three-year starter for the Skyhawks from 1998-2001 (with a redshirt year in 1997), Slaughter was part of five Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship squads (1997-2001) and four NCAA Division II playoff teams (1997-99, 2001).
He scored the game-winning goal on a header in FLC’s 2-0 win over Barry in the 1999 NCAA Division II semifinals in Miami Shores, Fla., propelling the Skyhawks to the NCAA title bout, where they eventually lost 2-1 in double overtime to Southern Connecticut State.
Eleven years after the conclusion of his playing career, Slaughter still ranks sixth in school history in career goals (28) and ninth in career points (69). He led the team in scoring in 1999 (30 points, 11 goals, 8 assists) and again in 2001 (29 points, 13 goals, 3 assists).
He also won a bevy of awards, including second team NSCAA All-American in 2001, first team NSCAA All-Midwest Region in 2001, first team All-RMAC in 2001, second team All-RMAC in 1999, three RMAC Offensive Player of the Week honors and the Dr. Don Whalen Senior Athlete of the Year Award as FLC’s top senior male athlete during the 2001-02 school year.
“Curt was the top scorer on the 1999 team and was a major reason that we made it to the national finals,” said former teammate Luc Cisna, who was inducted into the FLC Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005. “He scored in the semifinals and had a bunch of other big-time goals. He became an All-American as a forward, which is very hard to do because you have to find a way to put the ball in the net ... the most coveted skill in the sport. He has been an active, supporting alumnus ever since graduating.”
Slaughter will join a handful of people who have been inducted into the FLC Athletic Hall of Fame as both an individual and a member of a team. His 1999 Skyhawk soccer squad was inducted as a group in 2010.
He will become the ninth men’s soccer alumnus to be inducted into the FLC Athletic Hall of Fame, joining Steve Berglund (1997-2000), Luc Cisna (1995-99), Ian Dickinson (1991-94), Martin Dirks (1970s), Brad Greenwood (1998-2001), Rich Hansen (1995-98) and Calum Robertson (1995-97, 1999).
Ever since graduating from Fort Lewis in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science with an emphasis in education, Slaughter has been involved in education as a teacher, coach and administrator at such schools as Englewood Schools, KIPP Colorado Schools and the Denver School of Science and Technology.
Slaughter and his wife, Shari, welcomed their first son, Maximillian, in January 2011.
