Photo courtesy Bob Slay ’69.
Slay ’69: “Funny ER Doc” Has Strong VMI Foundation By Mary Price, Associate Editor Doctor, Army veteran, stand-up comic, reality TV star, and author all rolled into one, retired U.S. Army Col. Robert “Bob” Slay ’69, M.D., is a Renaissance man of many talents. He’s happy to tell you, though, that the foundation of those talents was laid at VMI, even if no one would have predicted that in fall 1965 when he matriculated as “the French rat.” Now 75 and still practicing medicine in Southern California, Slay grew up in a military family, the son of Marine Corps Col. R.D. Slay. As young Slay was nearing high school graduation, his thoughts turned to two well-known mid-Atlantic schools, and VMI was not among them. Unbeknownst to him, though, the elder Slay was taking counsel from his good friend, Marine Corps Col. J.W.P. “Alligator” Robertson ’50B, who knew of just the place for a wide-eyed youngster with long hair in the 1960s. When Robertson dropped Slay off on Matriculation Day, his advice was succinct: “Just do what you are told, and don’t give up.” That advice served him well, even after he wrote, “R.D. Slay, Villefranche, France,” when instructed to put his name and hometown on
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the back of his rat room chair—a bad choice that Slay recalled drew him an unwelcome amount of “special attention” from the cadre. “In between pushups, crab crawls, burpees, and racking it in, they asked me to speak French,” he recounted. Slay, though, had an advantage few rats had: He’d already met his dyke before matriculating. That summer, he’d been enjoying the renowned beaches of the French Riviera when he happened upon a group of American boys playing volleyball. A conversation ensued, and that’s when Slay met John Turner ’66, a member of the Keydet football team who would go on to be elected to the VMI Sports Hall of Fame. “John was amazed that I was going to be a rat when I had other choices,” recalled Slay. “But as he stated, ‘If you’re that dumb, you will need some help, so you will be my dyke.’ I didn’t have a clue what that meant but agreed.” With the help of Turner and Slay’s roommates—K.C. Woodroof ’69, Joe Naselli ’69, Jamie Patton Totten ’69, and Bill Blandford ’69—Slay not only made it through the Rat Line but his entire cadetship, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and ranking near the
VMI Alumni Review
