In October 1969, 14 African American players were dismissed from the University of Wyoming football team. Last weekend, Wyoming’s administration made amends.
Nearly 50 years ago–on October 17, 1969, to be specific–14 African American football players were dismissed from the University of Wyoming football team. That group–11 of whom survive today–became known as “The Black 14.”
The Black 14 (photo, Wyoming Historical Society)
Last weekend–for the first time in all the years since–the school’s administration reached out to those players. “Please accept this sincere apology from the University of Wyoming for the unfair way you were treated and for the hardships that treatment created for you,” administrators wrote in a signed statement.
Why is Wyoming contrite?
Through today’s eyes, the players were mistreated and should never have been dismissed. But that wasn’t the angle back then. In the head coach’s view, which was supported by Wyoming’s athletics, university administration, and the state’s governor–the 14 players crossed a line.
During the Viet Nam War era, college students organized for protests all across America. In Laramie, football players were told: “Don’t! Or else!”
The players planned to wear black armbands during the Cowboy’s October 18 home game against Brigham Young University. The silent protest had two objectives. First, players wanted to make a public statement about the racist taunts they received from BYU players during the 1968 game. Second, they found intolerable the Morman Church rules that disallowed African Americans from becoming full members, including serving as clergy.
The players never got a chance to carry out their protest. On Friday, the day before the game, they met with head coach Lloyd Eaton (at their request) to talk things through. But when they arrived at the meeting, Eaton told them that they were no longer on the team. Organizing a protest was grounds for dismissal, he said.
End of meeting and the end of Wyoming football careers for Earl Lee, John Griffin, Willie Hysaw, Don Meadows, Ivie Moore, Tony Gibson, Jerome Berry, Joe Williams, Mel Hamilton, Jim Issac, Tony McGee, Ted Williams, Lionel Grimes, and Ron Hill.
Eaton’s decision was met with controversy. Cowboy fans wore armbands to the BYU game supporting Eaton. A week later, players from San Jose State–Wyoming’s opponent that day–wore armbands to support ‘The Black 14.’
Courtesy: WyoHistory.org
The controversy wasn’t just about Eaton had decided. It was also about how he handled it. As Tony McGee told Sports Illustrated years later, “If anyone said anything, he told us to shut up.” Eaton reportedly peppered his language with racist epithets, including the N-word. “He told us we could go to Grambling State or Morgan State (historically black schools).”
“It was pretty belligerent talk,” recalled Ann Marie Walthall, spouse of a faculty member who was walking nearby at the time. “I felt embarrassed for the young men hearing this tirade.”
1969 Wyoming football Cowboys (photo, WyoHistory.org)
It was a controversial call for football reasons, too. Wyoming football was on a roll in the late 1960s. A big reason was the school’s ability to attract out-of-state African Americans to play in Laramie (see photo left).
It was a mean feat for a state that’s about 1% Black and for a football program that had been historically white (see photo below of the 1959 Wyoming team).
Wyoming’s Caucasian-laden 1959 football team (photo, Wyoming athletics)
The Cowboys had won 27 out of 32 games from 1966-68, ending two seasons in major bowl games, beating Florida State in one.
Going into the BYU game, the ’69 team was undefeated and ranked 12th nationally.
Fans wondered: Because of the school’s African American pipeline, how would Eaton’s actions affect the football program?
Time would answer that question.
The Cowboys crushed BYU, 40-7, in that October 18 game, and then Wyo went on to defeat San Jose State the following week. The Cowboys were 6-0 and ranked 15th in the nation. Then, Wyoming’s fortunes suffered an epic reversal. A 4-game losing skid followed, and the Cowboys finished the 1969 season 6-4. The losing continued in 1970. The Cowboys won only one game. Eaton was fired.
The Cowboys had only two winning seasons over the next decade (in 1976 and 1980). Only twice since 1967 (in 1988 and 1996) has Wyoming football finished the season ranked among the nation’s Top 20 teams.
Surviving members and relatives stand with Wyo officials at the plaque commemorating ‘The Black 14’ (photo, Casper Star-Tribune)
Today, Black athletes participate actively and extensively on the Cowboys’ football and men basketball teams. But the events of 1969–although widely known–aren’t a primary topic of conversation. Inside Higher Education reports that no university official had ever talked about what happened with any of the Black 14–until last weekend.
A plaque was unveiled at Memorial Stadium commemorating ‘The Black 14’ and their place in Wyoming athletics history (see photo left).
A formal letter of apology–signed by the current athletics director and Wyoming’s recently-resigned president–was presented to Black 14 players and survivors at a reception-dinner last Friday night.
The letter read, in part: “Not to be heard, to be shunned, and to have your collegiate careers derailed as both students and athletes is a tragedy. Unfortunately, it continued beyond your time here. /We praise/… your immense character and integrity…when…it would have been easy to attack the university that turned its back on you…We want to welcome you home as valued members of this institution and hope you accept our old Wyoming saying, ‘Once a Cowboy, Always a Cowboy.’”
Public acknowledgment came last Saturday afternoon at Wyoming’s home game vs. the University of Idaho.
The Cowboys don’t play BYU this year. The two teams haven’t played a regular-season game in almost a decade. The gap has nothing to do with what happened in 1969. BYU is an independent program now, having left the Mountain West Conference where Wyoming plays.
Even if the teams had played, the game would likely have been about winning, not about player reconciliation. But give Wyoming credit. In a world where it’s almost always about winning, not always about how you play the game, Wyoming did the right thing. Finally.
“All I ever wanted was an apology,” Tony Gibson
POSTSCRIPT: There’s much to learn from what took place in Laramie a half-century ago. To assist, here’s a Spike Lee-produced documentary about Wyoming’s The Black 14.
Thanks for the excellent update. Fifty years is a long time.
They’ve come a long way. Thank you for writing this, Frank.