CJ Day – Staff Writer
Nine of the Black 14, a group of student athletes removed from the UW football team in 1969, will revisit campus this week to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their protest.
Campus community members have planned a number of events to both honor the Black 14 and to allow them to interact with students.
The ‘Black 14’ were removed from the UW football team after they attempted to protest a game against Brigham Young University. While some of the surviving members have visited campus in the past, this year’s commemoration marks their largest gathering to date.
“We originally wanted to bring them back athletically,” said Senior Associate Athletic Director Kevin McKinney. “Once they started committing to coming, the big thing became interaction with students in a classroom setting.”
Members of the group will visit various classes and share their experiences as part of their visit. McKinney said that this visit is a great opportunity for the Black 14 to encourage students to think more about ethnic diversity and inclusion on campus.
In addition, there will be a number of official events honoring the athletes. They’ll host a panel discussion about their experiences and First Amendment rights at 7 p.m. Sept. 12 in the Arts and Sciences Auditorium. An unveiling of a plaque telling their story will be at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 13. The highlight of the week will be a halftime event honoring the Black 14 at the football game against Idaho on Saturday.
“There’s a lot going on that really focuses on interaction with students. That’s what the men want, and I think that’s what the university wants,” said McKinney. “We wanted to make them feel welcome here, I want them to feel like they’re still Cowboys.”
The students’ dismissal at the height of the civil rights protest brought both the Black 14 and Wyoming football to a national stage. McKinney stressed that the season preceding the Black 14’s protest was a high-water mark for the Cowboys.
“Wyoming was nationally ranked when it happened, they were undefeated, and they went 10-1 the year before and went to the Sugar Bowl the year before,” he said. “The scandal was devastating for the Cowboys, and it sent them on a downward spiral that’d last for a decade. Of course, it was just as devastating for those 14 guys, so historically, it was a downer.”
McKinney said that many things about college football have changed in the past 50 years, so that an incident like the Black 14 could never happen again. At the time, he said, students weren’t allowed any sort of personal expression, something that might seem strange to student-athletes today.
Things have changed for the better, he said, thanks in no small part to the Black 14. McKinney said he hopes that enough time has passed that the Black 14 can feel welcome in Laramie again.
“It’s going to be up those men to determine how they want to move on from this.” he said.
The Black 14’s first day on campus will be Sept. 10, and they will visit classes and meet with student groups before their first official events on Thursday.
