LARAMIE — If Mel Hamilton is being honest, he can’t say he thought this would be possible.
“Tempers were high, and there was a lot of heat with the 14 and what we thought was coming from the (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints),” Hamilton said. “I think better minds came to grips with that 50 years later and said, ‘Look, let’s clear the air.’”
Wyoming’s Black 14 and their one-time adversary have come together for a cause far greater than simply mending a relationship.
More than 50 years after Hamilton and 13 other black players were kicked off the University of Wyoming’s football team for wanting to protest racial injustices both inside and outside the Mormon Church, the two sides have partnered to donate food across America. As part of the Black 14’s Mind, Body and Soul initiative, nine cities are getting a tractor-trailer’s worth of non-perishable food items delivered in time for the holidays.
That’s 40,000 pounds of food for each location chosen by many of the 11 living members of the Black 14. The cities on the receiving end of a donation are Baltimore (where the late Earl Lee, a lineman on UW’s 1969 team, enjoyed a career in education); Denver (where former receiver John Griffin resides); Boys Town, Nebraska (where Hamilton, another lineman on that team, attended school as a youngster); Wilmington, North Carolina (where Hamilton grew up); Charleston, South Carolina; Battle Creek, Michigan (the hometown of former defensive lineman Tony McGee); Pittsfield, Massachusetts (where former fullback Tony Gibson resides); Ethete, Wyoming; and Laramie, where UW’s campus is located.
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