Sidelined (26 page)

The population of Wyoming in 1969 was less than 1 percent African American. The university recruited black students from around the country, and the campus of 8,419 students had about 150 African Americans.
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Such was the scarcity of black students that they were ostracized from the social life of the campus.
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Willie Black, chancellor of the Black Student Union, came to Wyoming from Chicago. He argued that there was “very little overlapping of the races.” In fact, Black argued that “the Cowboys are separate, the foreign students are separate, the black group is separate, there are the Eastern and hippie type and a whole lot of others. On the hierarchy of hate the blacks aren't first. First come the Mexican-Americans, then the Indians. The blacks are third.”
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The relationship between black and white members of the football team, however, appeared to be positive. One of the white players recalled being asked by a sports reporter in New Orleans in 1968 about race relations on the team and he responded that no problems existed. “We never had any problems at all until that incident happened … before the BYU game,” said Alan Zerfoss.
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This view was held by many team members; indeed, Michael Newton remarked, “There was a [black] young man from my hometown [on the team] that I knew very well. I thought there was a good relationship between the players.”
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Therefore, although there were some racial problems on the campus at Wyoming, the black fourteen were not protesting against their own school. In many respects the actions of the football players at Wyoming mirrored the initial impulse of the OPHR in the sense that they were trying to use sport to dramatize the racial problems of wider society—in this case the exclusive racial policies of a leading university and the tolerance of such practices. The actions of those who protested at Wyoming were linked by the press with negative connotations to the demonstration of Smith and Carlos. Both were seen as examples of outside influences meddling in sport.
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The major point being made by those who criticized the black fourteen and Smith and Carlos was that they had brought politics into sport. The condemnation of such demonstrations, which had been increased by the predominantly negative reaction to the Smith and Carlos salute, as well as the heightened sense of tension surrounding issues of race and discipline on campuses in 1969 help to explain the treatment received by the black fourteen.

Eaton had the support of the local community and many alumni. Petitions
with thirty-five hundred signatures from the Laramie population offered praise for Eaton and urged “continuance of such actions in order to maintain a consistent, stable institution regardless of angry, radical voices which, if heeded, could bring chaos and ruin our esteemed university.”
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Phil White, the editor of the school paper, resigned after the publication gave its support to the black players. One member of the state legislature warned that if the players were reinstated it would have negative implications for the university budget. University president William Carlson inadvisably asserted that football was more important than civil rights.
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Nevertheless, some faculty and students at Wyoming offered a voice in support of the black fourteen. A resolution of an emergency session of the executive committee of the Student Senate of October 18 argued that the black athletes had acted on a matter of conscience “with restraint, with moderation and with responsibility.” The actions of Eaton and the university board of trustees were criticized and the Senate called for an open forum between the coach and the players before their reinstatement on the team. If this did not happen then further action was promised, with the aim of the “removal of theories and individuals which are responsible for the unfortunate situation.”
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On October 22 a statement was released by the joint Student-Faculty Committee that stated, “The committee [is] meeting continuously with all parties to work toward resolution of this incident…. [and] it feels it is making substantive progress for the benefit of all concerned.” A handwritten note on the statement instructed faculty to read it out to all classes.
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In a meeting of the Faculty Senate a week later a resolution was passed that included a “repudiation of Coach Eaton's actions in dismissing fourteen black students from the football team…. We disassociate ourselves from the coach's actions and call for the immediate reinstatement of fourteen black students to the football team with no penalties or recriminations.”
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Eaton, however, argued that as football coach he had a rule that had been in place for over a year that banned any attempt at protest or demonstration on his team and that the players had violated this rule. In his testimony to the court adjudicating the lawsuit eventually brought by the black players and the NAACP, President Carlson asserted that as a coach Eaton had the right to impose such rules on his players.
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While Eaton did agree to review the athletic scholarships with each player individually in the new year, Carlson asserted that the athletes had “openly, defiantly and premeditatedly violated the rules.” Carlson added that he and the state governor had taken the black players aside and asked if they would play
against BYU without wearing the armbands. “They said they would not and they would not play for Coach Eaton.”
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This is, however, at odds with the recollections of Joe Williams and Melvin Hamilton. The players' position had not been defiant in the first instance. Instead the standoff was provoked by the fact that Eaton was totally unwilling to entertain any thought of compromise.
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Hamilton argued that the players had “the right to work within the constitution and this is what Coach Eaton denied us the opportunity to do.”
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The issue would not go away, as various protest groups weighed in on the debate on the side of the black players. The Black Student Alliance sent a statement to other schools in the Western Athletic Conference urging support for the black fourteen and thanking those who had already protested against BYU. November 1 was designated “Black Wyoming Fourteen Day,” on which students at other campuses should wear black armbands as a symbol of protest and send letters to the Western Athletic Conference commissioner, Wiles Hallock.
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At Colorado State University black students also asked that no games be scheduled with Wyoming until the black fourteen had been reinstated.
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When the BYU team traveled to Texas the black fourteen scored a convincing victory, however. During the game many members of the crowd wore black armbands in a show of solidarity with the Wyoming black players. Indeed, five members of that crowd were arrested after scuffling with police while taking part in a protest. The attendance was six thousand below average, which was seen by some as a consequence of the request by a black fraternity group for local residents to boycott the game.
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As these examples of support for the black fourteen increased, Hallock commented, “It was unfortunate. Personally, I don't feel it was necessary for Lloyd [Eaton] to go as far as he did.”
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In fact, the rule that Eaton had used to justify his decision to throw the players off the team—that no players were permitted to take part in any protest action—was rescinded by the coach immediately after the black fourteen were dismissed. As the Black Student Alliance highlighted in a newsletter, the university president had told faculty that “we are altering the rule [on demonstrations] so it applies only to players while directly participating in team activities.”
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The change indicated that officials had acknowledged that the players had been wearing their armbands outside of “team activities”—practice was not to start for another ninety minutes after the players went to meet their coach. Eaton and the university administration also apparently realized that the rule as it had stood might have impinged on the players' rights to free speech under the First Amendment. The fact that this concession was made but the black fourteen were still not reinstated only served to further infuriate protesters.

The support that the black fourteen received from student activists and civil rights groups at other Western Athletic Conference institutions and across the country simply acted to strengthen feelings in the local Laramie community that they were under siege. Many local residents thought that the forces of Black Power had been at work in the black fourteen incident.
Booster organizations praised the response of the university. Many saw Eaton's stance as the sort of strong, conservative leadership that the country as a whole needed.
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There was also a clear belief that the black players were being manipulated by radical activists from outside the campus. Hamilton later confirmed that the players did get some support after the fact from the NAACP and the Black Panthers in Denver, Colorado, but the initial protest came entirely from the Black Student Union on campus. White students and local residents were nevertheless convinced that “busloads” of Panthers were ready to converge on Laramie.
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White player Alan Zerfoss later argued, “The militants got to our black athletes.”
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Fellow white Cowboy Gary Fox speculated, “I assume some politically active group got hold of and talked them into this protest.”
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The incident also had a significant impact on the fortunes of the team. The formerly successful program suffered a long-term losing streak in the seasons following 1969. The white players on the team had to deal with this reality and were left feeling confused and disappointed that their football futures had been jeopardized by the incident. Alan Zerfoss argued, “There was a lot of disappointment because we were all a family…. We never thought they would turn against our team and do some kind of foolish rebellion just because of the Mormons' beliefs. We thought it was ridiculous.”
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Ken Hustad described being “angry” and “disillusioned”; he “felt they [the black players] were centered on themselves and not on the team.” Although he admitted that with the benefit of hindsight he was able to see the wider cause the black players were focused on and would have supported their protest, at the time the general mood of the white players was frustration and disappointment.
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For the rest of the season and for much of the next, the Cowboys were greeted by protests whenever they played games on the road. Getting off the bus they faced lines of protesters screaming abuse; indeed, everywhere the team went there was agitation to greet them. This had a considerable impact on the morale of the team and affected their play on the field. “When we went to New Mexico there were protests, the blacks were all over. We would get off the bus to go to the hotel and they were there with their signs and this bothered us and we lost our last four games.”
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The perception of the white players prior to the incident was that their team was united, that football was the unifying force. As Gary Fox remarked, “We were just a bunch of kids who wanted to play football; I mean, that is what we were doing there, right? From my standpoint there was no tension of any kind, they were just a bunch of young kids like we
were. They were there to play football and go to school.”
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This team ethos was, however, quickly altered when the black players were cut from the team by Eaton. The white players were not privy to the meeting held with the coach and simply found out about their black teammates when they did not appear for practice. The white team members felt that the protest of the black players was not justified, and in many cases they did not fully understand what it was that their teammates were protesting against.
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“There was no talk whatsoever [of compromise]. There was no discussion as to whether or not we were going to support them and not our coach,” remembered Michael Newton.
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A general feeling was that the black players should express themselves by excelling on the football field, a field that was no place for political activism. Ken Hustad argued, “The uniform is of the school and it belongs to the school and players certainly can't be modifying their equipment. We are out there to play a game not carry out some political cause.”
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With an echo of the traditional view of sport as a positive racial force, the field was seen as a place of equality where a man excelled on merit. Football was not the place for political activism.
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