LARAMIE - Forty years ago, 14 black University of Wyoming football players were kicked off the team for wanting to wear black armbands to protest The Jesus Christ Church of Latter-day Saints' policy of not calling black men into its priesthood.

But on Tuesday, members of the "Black 14," as well as others involved in the situation, returned to Laramie for a panel discussion to both remember and teach about an incident that's little known among young people and is still a sore subject among many who lived through it.

On Oct. 17, 1969, on the eve of the Cowboys' game with Brigham Young University, 14 black players were called in by coach Lloyd Eaton.

The players had previously asked Eaton if they could wear black armbands during the game against the Mormon university. Eaton rejected their request, saying that individual protests weren't allowed.

When the players asked to meet with Eaton again to urge him to reconsider, he threw them all off the team - adding comments, several players said, about how the players could go back to living on food stamps or welfare.

"It was a very racist move," said John Griffin, a Black 14 member. "He didn't look at Mel (Hamilton) and I and 12 other guys as human beings. He looked at our skin."

Some of the Black 14 disagree that Lloyd was a racist, seeing him instead as a tough, disciplinary coach who felt that allowing individual action would help break apart his team, said journalist Ryan Thorburn, the author of a recently published book about the Black 14 incident.

Eaton, who died in 2007, talked little about the incident in his later years, though he always maintained that he did the right thing in kicking the players off the team.

At the time, most of the 14 players had little idea even what a Mormon was. But during a time of civil-rights protests and racial clashes around the country, the players felt they had to do their part.

"It was my time to contribute to the social revolution," said Hamilton, a starting guard. "If I had not done something when I was told about the Mormons, I would be doing the same dereliction as if my daughter was trying to reach up for hot boiling water without my guidance. It was the same thing to me."

When the university refused to reinstate the players, they filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court. But Judge Ewing T. Kerr dismissed the case - a decision that was eventually upheld on appeal.

"I regret that I did not take the case to the Supreme Court," Hamilton said. "I think the tenor of the court at the time would've been favorable."

Some of the players later returned to the team. Two of the players - Joe Williams and Tony McGee - later played in the NFL, though the incident cost many of the other players a chance at a pro football career, Griffin said.

After the incident, Hamilton lived in North Carolina briefly before returning to Wyoming; he's now an associate principal and director of diversity with the Natrona County School District. Griffin retired five years ago from his job as a baggage supervisor for United Airlines at Denver International Airport.

Wyoming football arguably never recovered from the Black 14 incident. Going into the BYU game in 1969, the Cowboys were off to a 4-0 start, were ranked No. 10 in the nation and seemed primed for a second consecutive trip to the Sugar Bowl.

But after the 14 players were kicked off the team, the Cowboys went 2-4 the rest of the 1969 season. The program didn't have another winning season for seven years and didn't play in another bowl game until 1987.

The cause the Black 14 was fighting for - African-American rights within the Mormon church - found much more success. The year after the Black 14 were kicked off, an African-American played on Brigham Young's football team for the first time. And in 1978, the church announced that men of African descent would be accepted into the priesthood.

Today, Hamilton's own son, Malik, is a practicing Mormon - a decision Hamilton says he firmly supports.

"I said (to Malik), 'I did this because of people like you that want to go into the church, and I want to make sure you have a fair shot.' "

Darius Gray, an African-American Mormon church member who was asked by BYU President Cecil Samuelson to attend Tuesday's panel discussion, said Samuelson sends his "good wishes" to the panel members.

Wearing a black armband with a white "14" around his shoulder, Gray said Tuesday's discussion showed that we as human beings have grown, whether black or white or Latter-day Saint or not. "We tend to have greater respect, I think, for one another.

"We become better by knowing who we are and what we've been through, so that we can maybe turn to something better in the future."

Thorburn said most people under 40 today aren't aware of the incident - and those who were around for it often don't like to talk about it.

"But I think now enough time has passed it can be viewed as more of a part of our history instead of a sore subject," Thorburn said.

"This could be a Hollywood movie if you could figure out the happy ending," he said. "I'm sure they would have these guys back as they are today as the ending."

Contact capital bureau reporter Jeremy Pelzer at 307-632-1244 or jeremy.pelzer@trib.com.