October 17, 1969
Dismissed
There was no conversation. Coach Eaton met them with a tirade, and in a single morning he dismissed all fourteen. Their scholarships, their team, their place at the university — gone. The state of Wyoming split in two. There were death threats. Guns brought onto campus. Run-ins with the Klan. And when the players sued, it took three years for the courts to fail them.
There was no conversation. Coach Eaton met the players with a tirade and dismissed all fourteen on the spot. In a single morning, fourteen scholarships were gone — and the men were removed from the University.
What followed split the state in two. The campus erupted — protests for the players, protests for the coach. There were death threats. People brought guns onto campus looking to harm them. There were run-ins with the Klan.
Scattered across the country and stripped of their scholarships, the players filed suit against Eaton. It took three years to wind through the courts. And then, running up against the same systemic racism they had faced their whole lives, the case was dismissed.
The campus became an epicenter of the civil rights movement overnight — protests, death threats, guns brought onto campus, run-ins with the Klan.