0:00

Hey everyone, you're listening to Code Switch.

0:02

I'm B.A. Parker. To

0:06

be young and to have principles is a

0:08

scary thing. You don't know what

0:10

the outcome will be, what it'll cost.

0:13

Today, I wanna share with you the story of a

0:16

group of young black men who

0:18

paid an immeasurable price for choosing to stand

0:20

up for themselves. The

0:22

Black 14 were football players at the University of

0:25

Wyoming back in 1969, and

0:27

they decided to take a stand against the

0:30

racist treatment they were experiencing at a football

0:32

game, and that choice changed

0:34

their lives forever. The

0:36

episode you're about to hear is from the

0:39

BBC's podcast called Amazing Sports Stories, and it's

0:41

the first in a special four-part series that

0:43

I got to host for them called The

0:45

Black 14. When

0:48

you're done with this installment, you can find the

0:50

rest of the series over the next few weeks

0:52

on the BBC website or wherever you

0:54

get your podcasts. The

0:58

following podcast contains lived experiences which involve the use

1:00

of strong, racist language. For

1:07

listeners outside of the United States

1:09

or Canada, this episode contains many references to football. On

1:13

this occasion, we aren't talking about the spherical

1:15

version, it's not soccer. It's

1:20

American football, helmets, shoulder pads, and so on.

1:22

The gridiron is the term

1:24

for a football game. It's

1:26

the term for a football field.

1:28

Tony McGee and I are the only two that

1:31

were actually in the game that

1:33

was the catalyst for this whole initiative. So

1:37

you're the OG? I'm one of the OG's, me and McGee.

1:42

This is Guillermo Haysaw. He

1:45

used to go by Willie. Back when he was 19 years old, the

1:48

age he was when our story starts. But

1:51

it's Guillermo these days, now that he's in his 70s. Willie

1:55

is an intense, competitive guy. He's

1:58

small for a football player, up for

2:00

it with a kind of bubbling,

2:02

highly taught energy. He

2:05

likes to hit and be hit and jump up

2:07

again for the next play. It's

2:13

the fall of 1968 in the clear

2:15

high air of clean cut Provo, Utah.

2:18

It's the home of Briam Young University,

2:20

BYU. Guillermo's unlucky opponents

2:22

for the day. He

2:24

plays for the University of Wyoming Cowboys

2:27

football team and they're taking on Briam

2:29

Young and BYU Stadium. We

2:32

were getting beat. We got

2:34

that surge of energy and we won the game.

2:36

Right so it was a squeaker. It's

2:41

in a stunning setting. The Rocky

2:43

Mountains framing the small town. It

2:46

ought to be amazing for Guillermo. He's

2:48

young and ready for anything. Like

2:51

any competitor, he's always chasing a win.

2:54

And this is a big one. It's a

2:56

moment. But he's

2:58

also black and it's 1968

3:01

and Provo is determined to make it

3:03

clear that he's not welcome. Typically

3:06

the nigger calling and

3:08

gouging that happens when you

3:10

get tackled was commonplace.

3:13

At that time during this

3:15

1968 game, Guillermo is one

3:17

of five African-American football players on

3:20

the Cowboys team. The

3:23

game's over. We're cheering on the

3:25

sideline. Even before that

3:27

in the game itself, Tony McGee had

3:30

been complaining to the official

3:32

about the excess gouging and

3:35

nigger calling and choking and what have you

3:37

in the piles when we get tackled. The

3:40

officials would say, oh, just shut up and play

3:42

the game. They weren't calling any files or penalties.

3:45

So we're cheering on the sideline, won

3:47

the game. Usually you

3:49

walk parallel perpendicular to the

3:51

other team shaking hands after the

3:54

game. We look across the

3:56

field And everybody's gone.

3:58

The Whole football team. Coaches everybody's

4:00

gone with. Think of what happened you

4:02

know? so I know we we won

4:04

the game. Other: you know that bad

4:06

a Sportsman that they're not gonna in.

4:09

I acknowledge it and so we started

4:11

to run across the field to go

4:13

to the locker room. They turn the

4:15

sprinklers on and we had to run

4:17

through the water. Now mind you, the

4:19

whole football team not just the five

4:21

black players had to run through the

4:23

water to get to the locker room.

4:26

Even victory. The ammo

4:28

and the rest of the Black Cow blaze receive

4:30

next to their dignity. As much as

4:32

they try to ignore that, Genuine.

4:36

His teammates don't have a huge that's at

4:38

the time. It is get the hell out

4:41

of promo. They don't forget

4:43

it and that day. And. Night and

4:45

sixty eight with spec said. It's

4:49

going to change gamers. Lays is going

4:51

to change his teammate has it's. Going

4:53

to bring the football team they play. For crashing

4:55

down and record for more

4:58

than sixty years. As

5:00

going to put him and thirteen other

5:02

young black. Men on a collision course

5:04

with America. In

5:07

the end, it's going to make them legend. Eight

5:13

of those fourteen players. Are going to tell

5:15

us that story? And

5:18

the Bbc World Service This is

5:20

amazing Sports stories. This is a

5:22

new for. Part season The Black

5:24

Fortunate and Be A Parker. I'm

5:26

a writer, audio producer and co

5:28

host of Code Slits, the show

5:30

that race an identity on National

5:32

Public Radio and the Us. Episode

5:36

was middle land. But.

5:47

In the Nineteen Sixty Eight and Nineteen Sixty

5:49

Nine seasons, the number of black players in

5:51

the Wyoming Cowboys football team. Grew from

5:54

five to fourteen. For.

5:56

The new arrivals their new home. was

5:58

laramie wyoming and Northwest.

6:01

They descended from all four corners of

6:03

a country heaving with change. The

6:09

1960s in the United States

6:11

saw people taking action. Racism,

6:14

sexism, and war had pushed a

6:16

generation to its breaking point. And

6:18

now they were pushing back. This

6:21

is St. James's Baptist Church in

6:24

Birmingham, Alabama. Tonight it's

6:26

the rallying center of the equality.

6:29

In 1962, James Meredith

6:31

became the first African American student

6:33

to enroll at the racially segregated

6:35

University of Mississippi. In

6:38

1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. I

6:43

would like to take this opportunity to

6:45

lead all of us in prayer for

6:47

Martin Luther King and the future of

6:49

all civil rights movements. At the 1968 Olympics

6:53

in Mexico City, the

6:55

same year the Cowboys played Brigham Young, African

6:58

American athletes Tommy Smith and John

7:00

Carlos raised their fists in solidarity with other oppressed

7:02

black people. It was black dignity and I'm proud

7:04

I've done it and don't tell them what I'll

7:07

do if I get up there next time. But

7:10

new laws, new movements, new ideas

7:12

seemed to prove that real change

7:14

wasn't so far away as

7:17

long as you were willing to stand up and fight for

7:19

it. America

7:21

was at a boiling point. Laramie

7:24

Wyoming? Not so much. As

7:34

athletes on sports scholarships at the

7:36

University of Wyoming, Guillermo and

7:38

his 13 black teammates weren't

7:41

just the only black players on the

7:43

team. They were among the only black

7:45

people in a very white state. I'm

7:48

John Griffin. I'm from a little town in

7:50

the San Fernando Valley of California called

7:53

San Fernando and I'm a member of the Black 14. John

7:56

was 21, one of the older players

7:58

and one of the stars of the team. and another

8:01

leader. He was softer

8:03

spoken than the brash Guillermo and

8:05

more diplomatic. He was

8:07

a born peacekeeper and the others respected

8:09

him, not least because of how brilliantly

8:11

he played. He was

8:13

naturally confident, seemingly always at ease,

8:16

but he was a long way from home.

8:19

What were your first impressions of Laramie when

8:21

you got there? It was different,

8:23

I must say. Everything around

8:25

the University of Plains with

8:29

pronghorn, antelope. The

8:31

University is beautiful, but my

8:33

focus primarily was playing football.

8:36

Did you feel any difference being

8:39

one of like the few black

8:41

students at that time at the University? I did,

8:45

I did. You know

8:47

we got to know the Black Student

8:50

Alliance students. I

8:52

got to know my teammates pretty well and

8:54

all the brothers, we you know, there were 14 of us so

8:56

we just hung out together. So we had

8:59

a nice little community built in and so and

9:01

we knew some of the white players. They

9:03

were good guys, you know, but we didn't,

9:05

we didn't hang around with white players. Not

9:07

at all? One. Dear

9:10

friend of mine by the name of George Herrick, there

9:13

was only one player that I hung around with. I

9:16

don't think we realized what the true

9:19

flavor of Wyoming was back in 1969. What

9:22

was the flavor of Wyoming in

9:24

1969? Well it was a very, it was a red

9:27

state before

9:29

it became a red state. How's that? John

9:32

means more conservative. Laramie

9:37

was warm, friendly, and hospitable.

9:39

The people were generous and

9:41

nice, but there was always

9:43

this feeling for these young men

9:45

so far from the communities they'd grown up

9:47

in, that that only ran

9:50

so deep. That there was

9:52

a way to behave and if they broke

9:54

some unwritten rule they'd see a

9:56

different face of this small and gentle

9:58

city. What were

10:00

your first impressions of Blamey

10:02

when you got there? Fear.

10:04

Why am I here? That's

10:08

Tony McGee. Guillermo mentioned him

10:10

earlier. He was one of the

10:12

other African-American players at the Bream Young game in

10:14

1968. Tony

10:16

was the large to Guillermo's little.

10:19

He was 6'4 and weighed well over 100

10:22

kilos. That's 200

10:24

pounds. He was

10:26

used to small towns. He came from

10:28

one, in Michigan and America's Midwest. But

10:31

he was nervous the second he got to Laramie. Michigan

10:34

is busy, but in Wyoming,

10:36

you're always stranded in what

10:38

seems like an impossible expanse

10:40

of space. You see

10:42

nothing but land and steers

10:44

and cows and mountains. Something

10:47

the most beautiful country you'll ever see. Still,

10:49

he was optimistic. He

10:52

had a scholarship to play for a famously

10:54

great team, and he was ambitious.

10:57

All the coaches knew the players, and all

10:59

the players knew each other. There were not

11:01

many African-Americans on that team, but at the

11:03

same time, the ones that were on there

11:05

were pretty good players, and a lot of

11:07

them got opportunity to go pro. So I

11:09

really liked the fit. Hi,

11:11

I'm Joe Williams. I go by JW. But

11:14

I'm Joe Williams. I'm from Dallas,

11:16

Texas. Joe was another teammate and one

11:18

of the captains of the team. He

11:21

was a polite gentleman from the South with

11:23

manners that belied his killer instinct on the

11:25

field. What were your

11:27

first impressions of Laramie? It

11:30

was a complete coach

11:32

of shock. You hear me? I

11:36

mean, being from

11:38

East Texas, I mean, never being more

11:40

than 44 above-sea level.

11:43

And then to go to Wyoming, where you 7,200 feet

11:45

above-sea level, to

11:47

see mountains, to go to

11:49

a predominantly all-white school,

11:52

it was something special. The city

11:55

was fantastic. The football team was a

11:57

center of everything. Everybody

11:59

knew the... if you were there and then if

12:01

you have an African American descent then of course you

12:03

were in some kind of sport. Man,

12:05

when I first got to Wyoming, it was very

12:08

beautiful. The mountains, the landscape, just

12:10

the total atmosphere was nice. You know,

12:12

it hadn't been that far west. Lionel

12:14

Grimes was from the town of Alliance,

12:17

Ohio. And the people were friendly. I

12:19

mean, we were there, we were part of

12:21

the Wyoming Cowboys. But the

12:24

players did experience some ignorance and

12:26

racism in Laramie. I

12:28

did get some strange comments when I was there, which

12:30

was weird to me being in 1969, 1970,

12:35

where some people had never seen black people.

12:38

The funniest thing I think that ever happened

12:40

to me was at midnight one time. I

12:43

kept seeing this young man looking at my rear end, you know,

12:45

I'm trying to figure out what's going on. And

12:47

so finally I just asked him,

12:49

I said, man, what's going on, man? I

12:51

noticed you keep looking and it's approaching midnight,

12:53

what's going on? He said, well,

12:56

he had been told that black people had

12:58

tails and that they popped out at

13:00

midnight and he was looking to see

13:02

where mine was. And I looked at

13:04

this dude and I said, man, you're

13:06

not only ignorant, you're stupid. So

13:08

just a couple of answers. Other than that, it was

13:10

a very pleasant place to be. What

13:13

year did you start at the University

13:15

of Wyoming? I started at the University of Wyoming in

13:17

1968. Ron

13:20

Hill hails from Bessemer, Alabama in

13:22

the deep south. Alabama was

13:24

the home of Martin Luther King Jr.

13:26

and the birthplace of the civil rights

13:29

movement. As part of growing

13:31

up in the deep south, Ron attended

13:33

schools segregated by race. You

13:35

know, everybody's thinking, well, the hard part

13:37

is living in the south. Not

13:40

true. That's a fallacy. It's

13:43

an American problem. I was

13:45

coming from the library one night and it's

13:47

snowing, come across the street and three white

13:49

dudes in a car crossed the intersection and

13:51

he yells out, nigga, go home. This

13:55

is in Laramie? Yes, ma'am. This is in Laramie. The

13:58

Car was going along in the snow. I was

14:00

one in in the snow. I'll run along

14:02

right behind the have some splash and snow

14:05

all over the place. And

14:07

I caught up with those guys. And

14:10

I just all blacks don't want to hear that. Plugs,

14:13

And one is you blasphemous

14:15

because because will black. And

14:18

Melvin Hamilton. Though. He said we can call

14:20

him now. Said. Com sillier me straight

14:22

from the army. What? Were your

14:24

first impressions of Laramie? Oh

14:27

My. God. My. First

14:30

Love I noticed a

14:32

lack of diversity or

14:34

immediately. So I

14:36

say what have I done. The.

14:38

Second thing, it was cold

14:41

so. And I

14:43

said, what have I done. That.

14:46

Sense of the universities black student

14:48

Alliance Will you black? Was interviewed

14:50

about this time and Wyoming years

14:52

later. When. We arrived the University.

14:55

We. Were appalled that Blackstone's didn't feel

14:58

comfortable eating in the main cafeteria. Sort

15:01

of Blackstone's would. We. Go downstairs

15:03

and that's where you'll find much as they

15:05

oh my goodness said this. This is Awful.

15:08

And there was no source of place for them.

15:10

They talk about the hanging outside. Till

15:12

a good deterrent go There was

15:15

no place for the no no

15:17

social activity that despite solely for

15:19

known as Isis the or Blackstone

15:21

allows. For. The most part though, the

15:23

players could try and focus on what they were

15:25

there to do. Play. Football.

15:30

When. You know, football was like

15:33

the military to me. Once

15:36

you're in a situation, Where.

15:39

You all have similar goals.

15:42

Is seems like raised doesn't

15:44

matter. And so

15:46

be the only one that looks

15:49

like me isn't as important. Maybe

15:51

more? Because. You have

15:53

that go to obtain. Perhaps.

15:56

Initially, race that and seem to

15:58

matter. within the keys But

16:00

the reality of the 1960s was about to

16:02

get in the way. Football

16:09

for a college player was like

16:12

a job. But for many of

16:14

the Black players, it meant a lot more.

16:17

It was something they truly loved, something

16:19

that was worth the isolation

16:22

and hardship of moving across the country.

16:25

And in football, for these young men, there

16:27

was a path to a better life, a

16:30

scholarship, a university degree, and the future

16:33

that came with it. Especially

16:35

for Ron Hill, from America's Deep South. And

16:37

the biggest thing that I have ever done

16:40

in my life, Ms. Parker, was

16:42

to be able to tell my parents, you

16:45

don't have to pay nothing for me to go to school. All

16:48

I gotta do is keep it up. You didn't

16:50

have to pay anything. No, ma'am.

16:52

That was my total

16:54

objective for being there. I wanted

16:57

to get education when my parents see

16:59

me get education and not

17:01

pay one, they not pay one penny. College

17:10

football in the U.S. is the sport with the

17:12

strongest regional loyalties. In

17:15

a town like Laramie, the team

17:17

is a second religion, and the

17:20

Saturday games are church, complete with

17:22

the singing, the community, the ecstasy.

17:25

Laramie's World Memorial Stadium holds almost as

17:27

many people as live in the town.

17:30

People descend from all over the state

17:33

to fill out the congregation. The

17:39

players is not gods, or

17:41

at least apostles. For

17:44

now, they were keeping their heads down,

17:46

doing their work, going to practice, earning

17:49

their way. Before a few

17:51

hours each week, they became

17:53

the most important people in the state.

17:56

As former Army man Mel Hamilton puts it,

17:59

Ms. Parker. Wyoming

18:01

University is the only four-year

18:04

institution in the state. They

18:09

make their football team the

18:11

greatest asset that they have.

18:15

And they love their football

18:17

team. If the team

18:19

is winning, the coach

18:21

could run for governor and

18:23

win. But

18:26

in 1969, the team was good. Really

18:30

good. Out of hundreds

18:32

of colleges, they were ranked 12th in

18:34

the whole country. John

18:37

Griffin, a calm and confident Californian,

18:39

remembers game day in Laramie. Cowboy

18:42

football is the only big thing in Wyoming. And

18:46

on any given day during

18:48

the season, you can

18:50

look out your window. We lived in McIntyre Hall,

18:52

which is where the football team

18:55

lived. We were probably

18:57

on the ninth floor, and you could see in

18:59

all directions cars coming in at 8 o'clock in

19:01

the morning for a 1.30 start. So

19:06

it made me aware then how

19:08

important cowboy football is.

19:12

And everybody treated us very,

19:14

very well, because they all wanted

19:16

to know a cowboy football player. I

19:20

know that, well, being a football player

19:22

on the Cowboys football team is a

19:24

pretty big deal in Wyoming. Did you feel like there

19:27

was a special status with being a

19:29

football player in that town? Yeah,

19:32

it had to be a great football

19:34

town because there was nothing else. Here's

19:37

player Guillermo Heisau. That was what put

19:39

them on the map was their football

19:41

program. They had designed that 1969 team

19:43

as the best ever. Their

19:49

motto was, anytime you played against us, you're

19:51

in for a fight. Every

19:53

Saturday, 60 minutes, you better be

19:55

ready because we're going to bring it to you. We're

19:58

going to have the W on the wind column as we. leave

20:00

the field. If I wasn't a football

20:02

player, I don't know how friendly people

20:04

would have been to me. This is Ted

20:06

Williams. He describes himself as the quiet one

20:08

in the bunch. I noticed that right away,

20:11

but soon you know your football player,

20:13

everybody wants to talk to you, everybody

20:16

wants to shake your hand, how

20:18

great a job you're doing. Being

20:20

a Wyoming cowboy might have met you or

20:22

a big name on campus, but

20:24

being an African-American cowboy of course

20:26

meant something a little different to

20:28

being a white cowboy, even down

20:31

to how head coach Coach Lloyd Eaton treated

20:33

you. Lloyd

20:36

Eaton was a legend in Wyoming. He had

20:39

a warm kind of doughy face. He

20:42

would wear a baseball cap, tuck a

20:44

polo shirt into his khakis, and bark

20:46

orders from the sidelines. He

20:48

was already in his 50s, but almost

20:50

alarmingly fit, and a broad

20:53

fatherly smile concealed an intense

20:55

competitor and a stickler for the

20:57

rules, who saw discipline as

20:59

the key to victory. I wanted

21:02

to talk to you a bit about Coach

21:05

Eaton. Oh, the drill

21:07

swordsman? Eaton was the coach

21:09

that got them to that point where

21:11

they had started being ranked

21:13

nationally, and that was

21:16

a first for University of Wyoming. And

21:18

so it was quite

21:20

an experience being there and knowing that

21:23

you're amongst the best. I

21:26

felt like if you

21:28

like black, they wanted

21:31

more out of us. It seemed like I

21:33

was real harder, I think, than anybody else.

21:35

I felt he'd throw balls at

21:37

you, made drills. If you drop the

21:39

ball, you made like guys line up,

21:41

you got to go through and they

21:44

slap. I was actually almost punching you

21:46

and slapping the ball out of your

21:48

hand. I felt like I was

21:51

treated pretty rough, more

21:53

like the other guys, the other white guys,

21:55

I guess. Who were your friends

21:57

on the team? Did you have any friends on the team? You

22:00

mean black-white? Black-white

22:03

either or. Oh yeah, all

22:05

the brothers on the team were pretty kosher. That

22:08

was never a dislike for any

22:11

particular one. But during the practices

22:13

and the scrimmages, some

22:15

of the players got a chance to cheap shot you. If

22:18

we practice and

22:20

the coach says, okay everybody,

22:22

have speed. So

22:25

you think you're going

22:28

to have speed. Then you step up there and here

22:30

comes this big white dude just,

22:33

boom, just plastered you and run you down. The

22:36

coaches don't say anything. So

22:38

the next time he did it, then I

22:40

retaliated. And the

22:42

coach says, you get out of here, you're back on out of

22:45

here. You

22:47

know, I was protecting myself. I

22:50

wasn't giving up my arms

22:52

and limbs to play this game. But

22:54

it was stuff like that that made

22:57

you think

23:00

seriously about what am I

23:02

doing here. It was

23:04

this kind of environment that helped make it obvious

23:06

to the players when they played Brigham Young in

23:08

Provo, Utah the previous year, there

23:11

wasn't much room to speak out. We've

23:13

been playing BYU for

23:15

a number of years. Joe Williams.

23:18

Every time we go to BYU, we couldn't

23:20

stay in the city. We had to stay

23:23

outside the city because the university

23:25

had African American players, black players

23:27

on the team. And when

23:29

we were on the field, there were some antics that

23:32

were always going on. But the one

23:34

thing that stood out more than anything

23:36

else is that when we

23:38

finished the game, they turned on the water sprinklers. You

23:40

know, let's wash all this evil off the field. put

24:00

his teachings at the center of their institutions,

24:02

including their flagship university. For

24:06

the towering Tony McGee, the

24:08

memory of the treatment of the black players

24:10

on BYU's home turf the previous year still

24:13

rang in his mind. I remember

24:15

the last game I played up there. A guy jumped

24:17

in the back of my legs, and I went up

24:19

to one of the officials and said,

24:21

look, he's doing this jumping in the back of my

24:23

legs, and I don't want to, he said, shut up

24:26

and play ball. This is what the official told me.

24:29

But that was the experience I had with BYU. But

24:33

it wasn't just the Wyoming players who had an issue

24:35

with Brigham Young. Other college

24:38

teams took issue with one of the policies

24:40

of the Church of Latter-day Saints. The

24:43

policy back then was African

24:45

Americans were not allowed to

24:47

become priests in the church.

24:50

African American women could not enter the

24:53

church. That

24:55

was the issue across the country was

24:58

that all the black student unions, along

25:00

with the Black Student Alliances, were

25:03

going to do something in

25:05

sympathy to protest against the

25:08

Latter-day Saints policies. President

25:12

of the Black Student Alliance, Willie Black,

25:14

spoke about this in 1993. Willie,

25:17

when did your involvement on this whole thing

25:19

start? Can you

25:21

set the stage a little bit so people understand

25:23

what happened? So the story was that somewhere along

25:26

the line, I became aware that the Mormon

25:29

Church owned BYU. And

25:32

I also quite accidentally became aware

25:34

of their policies regarding

25:37

their black membership. Mel

25:39

Hamilton. Ms. Parker, keep in mind

25:43

that this is in the middle

25:45

of the national revolution, I called

25:47

it, the social revolution

25:50

where blacks are doing their thing

25:52

and wanting to be recognized and

25:55

fighting for what we deserve. So

25:58

now I... You live

26:00

as my time. My.

26:03

Time to fight. Is.

26:06

My time to. Do

26:09

when I can to the revolution.

26:12

And. So I said we'd

26:14

you gotta do something Everybody

26:16

said we've gotta do something.

26:19

A number teams across the country. Who

26:22

is slated to play B Y U

26:24

for planning protests. Chileans,

26:26

And is just so happens to the

26:28

luck of the draw that we were

26:30

the next team up that to b

26:32

y u was playing when everybody across

26:34

the wagged his as they were gonna

26:36

protests. The Lack or

26:38

Less Athletic Conference. Is a college

26:41

football league in. The West of the Usa.

26:43

That. Is was just one of any protests

26:45

that happened to the Y U. B

26:48

Y U game at the University of

26:50

Wyoming The scheduled for the eighteenth of

26:52

October. Nineteen Sixty Nine. The.

26:55

Black Soon Alliance and the black

26:57

players came together to decide. Is

26:59

and how they wanted to make a stand.

27:02

Tall. Tony Mcgee for members making.

27:04

The decision to protest. The

27:06

and this proposition was put caused by

27:08

the blacks to in the lies. They

27:11

wanted to protest the way Byu fellow

27:13

but African Americans now this is where

27:15

to stories. Plus that is what they

27:18

say we were protesting to do. We

27:20

were really protest at that time. I

27:22

treat Myth on to. Final:

27:25

Grimes and we said we had no

27:27

problems with what they believe didn't believe

27:30

religion has no place or football field

27:32

anyway. Our. Problems will

27:34

have some bad things. Were treated in a

27:36

previous gay. We. Didn't like

27:38

the idea is the sprinklers the internet

27:40

on us within like the idea things

27:42

and will be in said in the

27:45

stands so as some point there had

27:47

to be a stoppage to that. We

27:49

went to all the players and we ate a meeting.

27:52

return to individuals them were married

27:54

they they should not be a

27:56

potted this because it can't afford

27:58

to lose a scholarship And

28:01

they had wives and they had responsibilities.

28:04

They didn't have to be apart, but

28:06

everybody wanted to be apart anyway. So

28:11

we went among ourselves away from

28:13

the Black Students Alliance meeting, and

28:16

we discussed what it was that we wanted

28:18

to do. And we came

28:20

up with the black armband, because

28:24

there was a universal symbol

28:27

of death, depression. Everybody

28:29

would understand what the black

28:31

armbands meant. And

28:34

so that's what we decided to do. Wearing

28:41

black armbands wouldn't have just been

28:43

a powerful symbol. It

28:45

meant taking their discontent public and

28:48

bringing politics onto the field. And

28:51

it meant telling their all powerful coach that

28:53

they were thinking about something more than

28:55

football. We had to ask

28:57

the coach for permission to be able to do that.

29:01

And so my dear friend Tony McGee says, you know, we've

29:03

got to talk to the coach about this. We can't just

29:06

arbitrarily help you guys

29:08

out without talking to the

29:10

coach about it. And that's what we

29:12

did. Was

29:14

Eaton aware of what was happening

29:16

during that game? No. Was

29:19

what was happening with y'all? Absolutely not. And

29:21

that's what we went over there to telling,

29:23

and say, coach, this is why we want

29:25

to wear armbands in the game to

29:28

protest and demonstrate

29:30

not with our black skins, because that was

29:32

the object and the locus of the whole

29:34

issue to begin with, but to

29:37

say that your views

29:39

have no place on

29:41

the gridiron. Period. That was it.

29:43

So a couple of days before the game against BYU, the

29:51

14 African-American footballers came to a decision. They

30:01

would go and ask head coach Lloyd

30:03

Eaton if they might show solidarity with

30:05

the Black Student Alliance's protest, and

30:08

ask him if they could wear black

30:10

armbands during the game. They

30:12

were Wyoming Cowboys. They were known

30:14

figures on campus and in the whole state.

30:17

Their position came with an importance and

30:19

symbolism that was almost bigger than

30:22

themselves. That gave them

30:24

the power to make a difference. But

30:27

it's clear from my conversations with many of the

30:29

guys, the priority was first

30:31

and foremost to football. They

30:33

weren't going to do anything without first clearing it

30:35

with Coach Eaton. It was a

30:38

gamble. Their coach was stern,

30:40

but he cared about keeping the team

30:42

together. They hoped he would

30:44

be sympathetic, especially to a

30:46

protest that was low key and

30:48

against the team that had treated them with

30:51

such disdain the previous year. Still,

30:54

they knew as soon as the Black

30:56

armband went on, there would be no

30:58

going back. But

31:00

none of the 14 Black players could have

31:02

predicted what happened next. Walking over,

31:05

we were very jittery, I

31:07

guess the word is. Lloyd

31:09

Eaton could go anyway. We

31:12

knew that he could do

31:14

anything. That's next time on

31:16

the Black 14. This

31:19

is episode 1 of 4, and if you're enjoying the

31:21

story, you know what we're going to say. Please

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do rate us, leave reviews where you can,

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and talk about us on social media. You'll

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the series and all other stories automatically.

31:37

We'll have new episodes weekly. This

31:40

season of Amazing Sports Stories is a

31:42

whistle-down production for the BBC World Service.

31:45

The lead producer is Sasha Edie Lintner,

31:47

and the producer is Jill Acheneku. With

31:51

thanks to Jasmine Biome for story

31:53

development. The executive producer

31:55

is Robert Nicholson. For

31:57

the BBC World Service, the senior producer is

32:00

Ali, the Sports Commissioning. Editor

32:02

is in adobo in the podcast

32:04

missing Editor is I'm and now

32:06

thanks to the University of Wyoming

32:08

American. Heritage Center Irene. L.

32:11

Kuittinen, Schubert, Black Fourteen Collects

32:13

and Wyoming State Archives for use

32:15

in There are.