1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team

Last updated

1969 Wyoming Cowboys football
Conference Western Athletic Conference
Record6–4 (4–3 WAC)
Head coach
CaptainLarry Nels, Tommy Tucker
Home stadium War Memorial Stadium
Seasons
←  1968
1970  →
1969 Western Athletic Conference football standings
ConfOverall
TeamW L TW L T
Arizona State $ 6 –1 –08 –2 –0
Utah 5 –1 –08 –2 –0
BYU 4 –3 –06 –4 –0
Wyoming 4 –3 –06 –4 –0
Arizona 3 –3 –03 –7 –0
UTEP 2 –5 –04 –6 –0
New Mexico 1 –5 –04 –6 –0
Colorado State 0 –4 –04 –6 –0
  • $ – Conference champion

The 1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team represented the University of Wyoming in the 1969 NCAA University Division football season. Led by eighth-year head coach Lloyd Eaton, they were members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and played their home games on campus at War Memorial Stadium in Laramie.

Contents

The Cowboys were three-time defending conference champions. They compiled a record of 6-4 (4-3 against conference opponents), finished fourth in the WAC, and outscored their opponents 242 to 118. Wyoming won its first six games, but lost the last four in a season tainted by a racial controversy.

Schedule

DateOpponentRankSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 20 Arizona
W 23–720,400 [1]
September 27at Air Force *
W 27–2533,290 [2]
October 4 Colorado State No. 19
  • War Memorial Stadium
  • Laramie, WY (rivalry)
W 39–315,140 [3]
October 11 UTEP No. 18
  • War Memorial Stadium
  • Laramie, WY
W 37–911,463 [4]
October 18 BYU No. 16
  • War Memorial Stadium
  • Laramie, WY
W 40–714,993 [5]
October 25 San Jose State *Dagger-14-plain.pngNo. 16
  • War Memorial Stadium
  • Laramie, WY
W 16–718,791 [6]
November 1at Arizona State No. 15
L 14–3048,000 [7]
November 8at Utah
L 10–3429,416 [8]
November 15at New Mexico
L 12–2412,806 [9]
November 22at No. 19 Houston *
L 14–4135,389 [10]
  • *Non-conference game
  • Dagger-14-plain.pngHomecoming
  • Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

[11]

Roster

1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team roster
PlayersCoaches
Offense
Pos.#NameClass
G 73 Conrad Dobler So
QB 10Ed SynakowskiJr
RB 26 Joe Williams Sr
Defense
Pos.#NameClass
DE 88 Tony McGee Jr
Special teams
Pos.#NameClass
Head coach
Coordinators/assistant coaches
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • Injury icon 2.svg Injured
  • Redshirt.svg Redshirt

"Black 14" controversy

During the season in mid-October, head coach Eaton dismissed 14 black players from the team for asking to wear black armbands during the upcoming home game against the Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars. At the previous year's win over BYU at Provo, some players claimed that Cougar players had subjected them to racial epithets. [12] A week before the game, the team's black members were reminded of the incident and also informed about the racial policies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (which owns and operates BYU, and which at that time excluded black people from the priesthood of the LDS Church) by Willie Black, leader of Wyoming's Black Student Alliance, and challenged them to do something about it. [12]

The day before the game, the players donned black armbands on their civilian clothes and went to Eaton's office to discuss how they might show solidarity with the BSA protest. [13] Upon seeing them with the armbands the coach immediately dismissed them from the team. [12] [14] According to Joe Williams, a team co-captain before he was suspended from the team, "We wanted to see if we could wear black armbands in the game, or black socks, or black X's on our helmets. And if he had said no we had already agreed that we would be willing to protest with nothing but our black skins." [14]

Eaton took them to the bleachers in Memorial Fieldhouse, [12] and said he listened to their suggestions for ten minutes before deciding to release them. [14] Williams gives a very different account: "He [Eaton] came in, sneered at us and yelled that we were off the squad. He said our very presence defied him. He said he has had some good Neeegro boys. Just like that." [14] Defensive end Tony McGee said that Eaton "said we could go to Grambling State or Morgan State... We could go back to colored relief. If anyone said anything, he told us to shut up. We were really protesting policies we thought were racist." [12] John Griffin, a flanker, corroborates McGee's memory. [12] Tony Gibson agreed with the other players that Eaton kicked them off the team before they could even present a case. [15] At the time, Wyoming fans and much of the state backed Eaton and his "no protesting" policy, and saw the Black 14 as insubordinate and ungrateful. [15]

At San Jose State University, the Spartans were petitioned in a letter by a UW student group to boycott the homecoming game in Laramie; [16] San Jose voted to play the game and wear multicolored armbands in support of the 14. [17] Groups at other WAC schools demanded that Wyoming be dropped from their schedules. [18] At the time of the incident in mid-October, the Cowboys were undefeated (4–0) and ranked 16th in the AP poll. [19] Even though they beat BYU 40–7, [20] and San Jose State (the next game) without the players to improve to 6–0, [21] Wyoming lost all four road games in November and went 1–9 the next year which prompted Eaton's removal as coach, though he stayed on as assistant athletic director. [22] The program had only one winning season in the 1970s, in 1976 under second-year head coach Fred Akers, who left after the Fiesta Bowl, returning to the University of Texas to succeed Darrell Royal.

The Black 14 included 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. [23] Three of the underclassmen returned to play for the Cowboys in 1970: Griffin, Meadows, and Ted Williams. [22] McGee transferred to Bishop College in Dallas, Texas, was a third round selection in the 1971 NFL draft, and played fourteen seasons for three NFL teams.

The Black 14 incident spurred the court case Williams v. Eaton, with the issue of free speech against the principle of separation of church and state. Litigation was lengthy for this case and ended on October 31, 1972. [24]

In 2019, the fiftieth anniversary of the Black 14 being dismissed, the University of Wyoming invited the surviving players back and made several amends. The eight players that returned were invited to speak to history classes and meet with student athletes; attend a special dinner with university officials and receive an official apology letter signed by President Laurie Nichols; and were given both Wyoming football jerseys and Wyoming letterman jackets. [15]

The Black 14 were the recipients of the 2023 NCAA Inspiration Award. [25]

NFL Draft

Three Cowboys were selected in the 1970 NFL draft, which lasted seventeen rounds (442 selections). [26]

PlayerPositionRoundOverallFranchise
Vic Washington Wide receiver 4 87 San Francisco 49ers
Larry NelsDefensive lineman 12 298 New York Giants
Joe Williams Running back12309 Dallas Cowboys

Related Research Articles

Lloyd W. Eaton was an American football player, coach, and executive. He served as the head coach at Alma College (1949–1955), Northern Michigan University (1956), and the University of Wyoming (1962–1970), compiling a career college football record of 104–53–4. Eaton then worked as the director of player personnel for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). Despite winning five conference championships with two teams, he is perhaps most known for his decision to kick 14 black players off of the Wyoming football team for discussing a protest against discrimination in 1969 that is infamously referred to as the "Black 14" incident.

Anthony Eugene McGee is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end for 14 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), including two Super Bowls with the Washington Redskins. He played college football for the Wyoming Cowboys before being dismissed as part of the Black 14 in 1969. McGee continued his college career with the Bishop Tigers and was selected in the third round of the 1971 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears.

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References

  1. ↑ "Wyoming downs Arizona". The Missoulian. September 21, 1969. Retrieved September 16, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Wyoming outlasts Air Force 27–25". Rapid City Journal. September 28, 1969. Retrieved September 16, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Cowboys smother Rams 39–3". The Ogden Standard-Examiner. October 5, 1969. Retrieved September 16, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Fox paces Wyoming over UTEP". The Odessa American. October 12, 1969. Retrieved September 16, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "Cowboys smother BYU". The Billings Gazette. October 19, 1969. Retrieved September 16, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Defense. Jacobs' toe spark Wyoming by San Jose 16 to 7". Scottsbluff Daily Star-Herald. October 26, 1969. Retrieved September 16, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "Devils' passing overcomes Pokes". The Arizona Daily Star. November 2, 1969. Retrieved September 16, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Utes ambush Pokes 34–10". Casper Star-Tribune. November 9, 1969. Retrieved September 16, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Rocky Long bombs Pokes". Casper Star-Tribune. November 16, 1969. Retrieved September 16, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Cougar aerial bombs blitz Wyoming, 41–14". Austin American-Statesman. November 23, 1969. Retrieved September 16, 2024– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "1969 NCAA Football Statistics (Wyoming)". National Collegiate Athletic Association . Retrieved September 16, 2024.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Henderson, John (November 8, 2009). "Spirit of the Black 14". The Denver Post . Retrieved November 15, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Armbands caused troubles". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 19, 1969. p. 2B.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Putnam, Pat (November 3, 1969). "No Defeats, Loads of Trouble". Sports Illustrated: 26.
  15. 1 2 3 Fifty years after the Black 14 were banished, Wyoming football reckons with the past
  16. ↑ "Wyoming faction asks for support from SJS". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 22, 1969. p. 4D.
  17. ↑ "San Jose will wear armbands". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 22, 1969. p. 4D.
  18. ↑ "When Coach Lloyd Eaton of Wyoming's unbeaten football - 11.03.69 - SI Vault". Archived from the original on December 4, 2013. Retrieved July 25, 2015.
  19. ↑ "3 schools gain; Ohio State firm". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). Associated Press. October 14, 1969. p. 15.
  20. ↑ "Trouble at Wyoming expected to invade other sports". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 20, 1969. p. 3B.
  21. ↑ "SJS fails in upset bid". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). Associated Press. October 26, 1969. p. 2B.
  22. 1 2 "No regrets says Eaton, 13 years after 'crash'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Associated Press. May 14, 1982. p. 17.
  23. ↑ "The Black 14: Race, Politics, Religion and Wyoming Football". WyoHistory.org. The Wyoming State Historical Society. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  24. ↑ "Introduction". The Black 14. University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center. Archived from the original on December 23, 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Black 14 to receive NCAA 2023 Inspiration Award". National Collegiate Athletic Association . December 6, 2022.
  26. ↑ "1970 NFL Draft". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved November 9, 2013.

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