SALT LAKE CITY-Former University of Wyoming football players John Griffin and Mel Hamilton were honored Saturday evening at BYU as the Cougars bested the Cowboys 38-24 at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
Griffin and Hamilton are two blacks, among the Black 14, who were dismissed from the Wyoming football program in 1969 prior to a game against BYU.
When Griffin and Hamilton asked if they could wear a black armband to protest The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ policy of excluding blacks from the Priesthood, Wyoming head coach Lloyd Eaton kicked Griffin, Hamilton and 12 of their other Cowboys teammates, off of the team.
Griffin believed this caused the Black 14 to miss out on opportunities in the National Football League because of the stigma associated with what happened to them in their decision.
Hamilton and former BYU and NFL star quarterback, S. Gifford Nielsen, now a General Authority of the Salt Lake City-based faith, have collaborated since November 2020 to donate 1 million pounds of food to the Black 14 Philanthropy.
Food has gone to Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wyoming to assist those in need.
This coming November, 800,000 more pounds of food shall be sent to these locations.
Griffin and Hamilton visited Church headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City and participated in a Friday Q&A at BYU following the premier of a student-produced documentary entitled: The Black 14, Healing Hearts and Feeding Souls.
Following a lunch on Friday at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City, Elder Randall K. Bennett of the Church’s North America Central Area praised the Black 14 for their example of selflessness and hope.
