For those of you who might be interested, Deke's HTC handle was from Donald "Deke" K. Slayton. Below is a cut and paste from his book on Amazon.
Deke Slayton was one of the first seven Mercury astronauts--and he might have been the first American in space. Instead, he became the first chief of American Astronaut Corps. It was Deke Slayton who selected the crews who flew the Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab missions. It was Deke Slayton who made Neil Armstrong the first man on the moon.
