SALT LAKE CITY -- Forty years later, some have argued that Wyoming's football program has never fully recovered.

It has been four decades since 14 African-American players were kicked off the Cowboys' football team after requesting to wear black armbands during a game against Brigham Young in protest of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' ban on African-American followers becoming priests.

As the Pokes begin preparation for their game against BYU, many UW players have very little knowledge about the history of the situation.

And as big a part of the program's history as the Black 14 incident is, some have never even heard of it.

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Wyoming was in cruise control through the 1960s.

It hadn't had a losing season in two decades, beat Florida State in the 1966 Sun Bowl, nearly beat LSU the next year in the Sugar Bowl and -- in 1969 -- was off to a 4-0 start.

"I remember that Wyoming was flying high and probably the elite program of the league and had gotten off to a great start," said UW Associate Athletics Director Kevin McKinney, who was a student manager for the team in 1969. "The Friday of the BYU game … while we weren't in the middle of it, we knew there was something going on."

Joe Williams, one of UW's 14 black players and a tri-captain on the team, had met with coach Lloyd Eaton and told him that the black players would like to wear black armbands during the game against the Cougars to protest Mormon policies.

Eaton quickly denied that request, but the black players, unsatisfied, drafted a plan to meet with Eaton in his office, wearing the armbands in hopes of changing his mind.

Instead, the football coach -- citing that individual protests weren't allowed -- kicked the 14 players from the team.

"We had the game that Saturday and routed BYU and everyone was in Lloyd's corner and thought that was the right move to make," McKinney said. "We had a struggle the next week, barely beat San Jose, and lost the next four games, nine of 10 the next year and had like six losing seasons in a row.

The black players fought to be reinstated, to no avail, that season.

Some later returned to the team, but the damage had been done.

After a pair of 10-win seasons in the 1960s, UW won 18 games in the next six seasons combined and didn't win 10 games in one year again until 1987.

"It's very easy to pinpoint what happened," McKinney said. "We couldn't recruit black athletes and they weren't interested in coming."

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Out on the recruiting trail last week as UW had the week off, the Black 14 incident was never brought up by a prospective athlete.

With the civil rights advancements nationwide over the past four decades, an issue from the 1960s seems to be the farthest thing from their minds.

"I've never had a recruit ever bring it up," first-year UW coach Dave Christensen said. "I don't think there's an issue anymore. It's so far removed. Thank God the world has changed in a more positive way and we don't have those types of issues."

UW defensive coordinator Dan Hammerschmidt, the program's only assistant who isn't in his first year, has never had an issue surrounding the Black 14 in his seven years of recruiting.

"Honestly, I don't know if anybody even realizes it," he said. "I don't think anybody thinks about it as an issue. It never comes up and it hasn't since I've been here unless it's something that we want to dig back into history and talk about it."

Sometimes, Hammerschmidt said, coaches can bring it up to show UW's program in a positive light.

Certainly the Black 14 incident put an indelible mark on the program, but the fact that the Pokes were winning double-digit games at that time and have done so again since then shows that the Cowboys can be successful.

"We'll bring that up, talk about tradition, talk about the bowl games," Hammerschmidt said. "You can show that it can be a big-time program. It's been done before, been done a couple of times, they've gone to a couple of big-time bowl games and won and had NFL players.

"The Black 14 was so long ago and a lot of schools had that stuff going on at that time. Obviously the world has changed a bunch, but you can use that football tradition."

And that, along with a strong coaching staff and exceptional football facilities, are what recruits are most concerned with.

"It's honestly something that no recruit knows about, especially the black recruits that come up here and especially guys from the big cities," UW junior cornerback Marcell Gipson said. "I never heard anything about that until I came here."

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One black UW player, in his first season in Laramie, admitted that he has very little knowledge of the history of Wyoming football.

Another, now in his fourth year on campus, had no idea what the Black 14 incident was.

"You've got me stumped here," he said. "I didn't even know anything about that story. This is the first time I'm hearing about it."

Others, like Gipson, learned about it after arriving in Laramie.

And while he has noticed a statue commemorating the Black 14 in the Student Union, he mostly learned about it in one of his African-American Studies classes.

"I actually was mad when I first found out the story because I was like, 'Man, we could've been a lot better,'" Gipson said. "They actually teach that in some of the African-American studies classes. I don't think the recruits hear about it when they first come here, but they most definitely hear about it when they get here."

Even local players have little knowledge of the incident.

Born nearly 20 years after it occurred, Buffalo native Chris Prosinski has mainly looked to his father to learn more about the subject's history.

"My dad has a ball that was signed from that original team with all those members," Prosinski said. "He's looked into it and done a lot of research, so I've got a little background on it, but I look to him for more of that information."

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It all begs the question: Should current UW players know more about perhaps the program's biggest piece of history?

"Why would they [know about it]?" McKinney said. "It was 40 years ago.

"Nobody thinks about it, nobody remembers it. Maybe some old fans do. But players, newer fans, they don't even know what happened.

"Through some classes on campus, some players have learned about it and talk about it. I think that what we have to understand is, at that time, it was a different world."

Now, athletes demonstrate silently, individually in probably every game.

Sometimes it's not a protest, but players can make a religious statement -- players often display Bible verses on anything from their eye black to their shoes.

McKinney pointed to messages involved with individuals' tattoos.

"It's probably not a real issue," Gipson said. "I didn't know about it and I don't think it's too big of a deal no more. The only reason I found out about it was because of that class and they told me about it.

"It's not so hidden that it's swept under the rug, but it's not too broad, either."

And none of the athletes interviewed has ever had any sort of civil rights problem in Laramie.

"I had more problems back in Dallas than here," Gipson said. "The state of Wyoming has come a long way from how they reacted to the Black 14."

Contact Laramie-based sports reporter Eric Schmoldt at eric.schmoldt@trib.com. Check out his blog at tribtown.trib.com/ESchmoldt/blog

Getting the word out

The history of the Black 14 incident is now more available than ever.

University of Wyoming students have had the opportunity to learn about the situation in certain classrooms throughout the years, and the curriculum has included videos on the subject.

Now, former Casper Star-Tribune sports writer Ryan Thorburn has released a book detailing the subject.

"I did read the book this summer, my wife read the book this summer and we've spent a lot of time visiting about it," UW coach Dave Christensen said. "I've had people ask me numerous questions about it. I think it's an important part of the history of Wyoming football, so it's something I visit with our staff about. But as far as our players, at this point in time, I don't know that they necessarily know a whole bunch about it."

They, as well as other students, have a chance to discuss the topic at further length this week.

The Association of Black Student Leaders, the African American and Diaspora Studies program, Multicultural Affairs and Associated Students of the University of Wyoming will host a panel discussion on the event noon to 2 p.m. on Tuesday in the UW Union's Skylight Lounge.

"The panel will celebrate and commemorate these men who made history through their student activism," Aimee Glocke, assistant professor in the African American and Diaspora Studies Program, said in a media release.

Panelists include Black 14 members Mel Hamilton and John Griffin, UW Associate Athletic Director Kevin McKinney and Thorburn, among others.