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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTony McGee got kicked out of Wyoming with the Black 14 but still made it to the Super Bowl
Tony McGee had no idea what would come next after he and 13 other black players were kicked off the undefeated and nationally ranked Wyoming Cowboys football team in the midst of the 1969 season. The defensive end had been playing like an All-American and maybe even a future pro, racking up 11 sacks in just four games. But now his football career, his college education and his entire future were in doubt.
One thing McGee knew for sure was that he would never play for Wyoming again. As far as he was concerned, the ouster of the group that came to be known as the Black 14 had revealed head coach Lloyd Eaton as not just a hard-edged taskmaster but also a hardheaded racist.
Wyomings black players had proposed wearing black armbands in their home game against Brigham Young University. A few wanted to protest the Mormon Churchs dictum forbidding black members from becoming priests. But for most of them, including McGee, the beef was more personal: BYUs all-white squad had hurled racial slurs and cheap shots at black players during their game a year earlier.
But when the black Wyoming players raised the idea of a protest with their coach, Eaton did not want to hear it. Instead, he berated and insulted them, saying they were troublemakers, half of whom did not know their fathers. Then, he kicked them off the team. McGee recalls Eaton saying the players could go back home to live off colored relief. Or, if they were lucky, maybe they could go play for Morgan, Grambling or some other historically black college or university.
link
http://theundefeated.com/features/black-14-tony-mcgee-protest-kicked-out-of-wyoming-still-made-it-to-super-bowl/
Dread Pirate Roberts
(1,896 posts)Just as relevant today as in 1969.
hatrack
(59,587 posts)The University of Wyoming football program did not fare as well. After dismissing its black players, the team won its next two games but lost the final four contests of the 1969 season, causing the Cowboys to plummet from the national rankings. The next season, Wyoming went 1-9, its worst record since 1939. The mass dismissal prompted black athletes in all sports to shun the university, and it was nearly a decade before a significant number of them would again suit up for Wyoming.
Eaton was fired as head coach after the disastrous 1970 season. He was hired as director of player personnel for the Green Bay Packers and was demoted to scout after four years. He worked for an NFL-run scouting service before retiring in the mid-1980s.
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)1969, I came home from Vietnam and I was still a n***** to multi-MILLIONS of ameriKKKans. Still am, seeing as tweaking by ameriKKKans racists continues unabated all the way into the WH, 2018. Still wearing black armbands for Trayvon Martin et al;😬
scarletlib
(3,411 posts)Not just you but all Black Soldiers from all our wars from the Civil War , WWI, WWII and so on.
It is deeply saddening that so called white people would treat their fellow American citizens, men and women who risked their lives in service to this nation, with scorn and derision and sometimes outright murder.
As one of those white persons, I thank you. And I agree with your signature line. We are all one human race, brothers and sisters.
I truly look forward to the day when we white skinned people are a minority here in this country. Honestly, I despair that we can ever erase the stain of racism from this nation.
OldHippieChick
(2,434 posts)Eaton was not reported in the local press. I'm now even prouder of the black armbands many of us wore on campus that year.
mountain grammy
(26,621 posts)Was that when America was great?
marble falls
(57,081 posts)and that its taken so long for Wyoming to make any sort of token of apology.
byronius
(7,394 posts)lkinwi
(1,477 posts)malchickiwick
(1,474 posts)I never could understand the appeal of that faith to anyone, but especially African Americans.
rpannier
(24,329 posts)I thought it was interesting that the only university administrator who publicly expressed opposition to their being kicked off was from BYU.
It did have the positive affect of BYU bringing in 25 AA football players the following season.
Nothing from Wyoming though. Eaton was convinced it was a conspiracy against Wyoming and him
mountain grammy
(26,621 posts)who told the Mormon Church he would take away their tax exempt status if they continued to bar blacks from holding offices in the Church. That was the "revelation."