Discussion of Black 14: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Wyoming Football by Ryan Thorburn, 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25.
“Many fans believed head coach Lloyd Eaton had his best team in 1969. Wyoming was on the verge of becoming a college football powerhouse. And then it happened: Race, religion, authority, protest, and football collided on the high plains of Laramie. The 14 black players on the team wanted to wear black armbands during the upcoming game against Brigham Young University to protest the policies of the Mormon Church, which did not allow blacks to enter into the priesthood. Eaton gave them the boot. And everything about Cowboys football changed forever,” from the back cover.
Pick up a copy of “Goodbye Judge Lynch: The End of a Lawless Era in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin” by John W. Davis for the March 24 discussion. “The Big Horn Basin of northern Wyoming was one of the last frontiers in the continental United States. Settlers did not arrive until 1879, when cattlemen poured into the Basin to capture empty grasslands. In their haste to seize opportunity, the new residents did not establish an effective criminal justice system, and the consequence was rampant violence. In “Goodbye, Judge Lynch,” Davis tells the fascinating story of how lawlessness finally came to an end in this remote corner of the West,” from the back cover.
