LARAMIE -- Clinton Isaac Jr. stepped onto the University of Wyoming campus for the first time in his life on Tuesday.

To his surprise, Charles Isaac also showed up at the Student Union, where a panel discussion about the "Black 14" was being hosted by the Association of Black Student Leaders.

Forty years earlier, their more athletically and academically gifted brother, James Isaac, was booted from the Cowboys football team along with the other 13 black players on the roster.

The group was dismissed from the nationally ranked program -- UW was coming off three consecutive WAC championships and a recent Sugar Bowl appearance -- by head coach Lloyd Eaton for simply requesting permission to wear black armbands against Brigham Young to silently protest a policy in the Mormon Church they felt was racist.

After dreaming of wearing the brown and goal while growing up in Hanna, James' career as a Cowboy was suddenly taken away in the fall of 1969, just four games into his freshman season and prior to a game against BYU.

"He said it was because he believed in what they were doing. No one forced him," recalls Bessell Jackson, Clinton Jr.'s twin sister, who now lives in Casper. "Mom and dad didn't understand at the time."

Even though James was just a wide-eyed kid fresh out of a small high school who played eight-man football and Eaton had already assembled dominant defense, he was used on kickoff return and saw playing time early that season as a defensive back.

Everyone in Hanna -- where James was an unstoppable two-way player for the Miners on the gridiron, a nearly 20-point per game scorer in basketball and a must-see performer at state track meets -- already knew their favorite son had the talent to develop into Wyoming's next Vic Washington.

"I remember one game we were playing Mountain View and a big running back kept going through our line and running over our players. He said to James, 'We're going to get you black boy,'" legendary Hanna basketball and assistant football coach Ed McAtee said. "The other boys on our team stood up for him. There was no prejudice in Hanna. We all liked the Isaacs. They were just the nicest kids in the world."

Clinton Sr. moved from Louisiana to Hanna in 1956 and worked for Union Pacific. The family of eight -- including his wife Lovie, oldest daughter Jeanie, the twins (Clinton Jr. and Bessell), James, Ada and baby Charles -- lived in a one-bedroom "shotgun" house provided by the railroad company for years until they could finally afford to move into a home in town.

"The school bus picked us up by the railroad tracks," Clinton Isaac Jr. said. "We were the only black family in the town of Hanna."

Mel Hamilton, a member of the Black 14 who is an educator in Casper, spoke to a standing room only crowd at the Student Union on Tuesday about the incident and how experiencing racism as a kid in the South made standing up to Eaton and the Mormon policy his "calling."

Charles, who was in the audience, made it a point to stand and explain to the young faces in attendance that James never experienced blatant racism in Hanna. He still follows the Cowboys passionately and takes pride in the fact that he is a Wyoming native and that his brother was chosen to play at UW on scholarship.

"I still wear my Cowboys colors and have the flags flying from my car," said Charles, who lives in Aurora, Colo., and was sporting a brown and gold outfit at the panel discussion. "People look at me and say, 'There's that guy.'"

A lot of kids from small towns can't wait to run away as fast as they can after graduation. When James was suddenly lost in Laramie, he came home.

Soon after Eaton escorted the 14 black player from his office into the Fieldhouse to inform them that "Fellas, you're no longer Cowboys," Hanna wrapped its arms around James until he figured out his next move.

McAtee helped James obtain a partial scholarship to play football and run track at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., where he became the first and only member of the Isaac family to earn a college degree.

Clinton Sr. and Lovie took out a loan to make sure James finished his education. After graduation he taught and coached in Yuma, Ariz., and later came back to Hanna as a substitute teacher.

But after moving to California, James was killed in 1976 at the age of 26. Clinton Sr. also died tragically two years later. To this day the events are too emotional for the Isaac family to speak about publicly.

"When James went back to California, the year he got shot, he told me he was going to further his education," Jackson said. "My mother and father were very proud of him."

James' best friend growing up, Tommy Patterson, went on to become a sports writer and eventually the executive sports editor at the Denver Post.

Patterson paid tribute to James and their hometown in a column:

Small towns are incredible, always searching for something to associate with the rest of the world and remain proud of.

James Isaac made Hanna proud. And now he is dead. ...

On December 15, 1976, James Isaac left Hanna for the final time. He went to San Bernardino, Calif., to try to patch up a marriage. On Christmas Eve, he was shot by his wife and killed. In Wyoming, he was buried in a white letter sweater he had worn so proudly at Hanna High. ...

A small boy might grow up thinking friends come naturally. Only when they are gone does he find out differently. ...

James Isaac was special to his friends and the town that loved him.

What a great friendship it was. That's how it will always be.

Wyoming fans who witnessed the glory days of the 1960s are left to wonder what the program would be like today had the Black 14 incident never happened.

John Griffin, a Black 14 player who also spoke in Laramie on Tuesday, believes the Cowboys would have been consistently good decade after decade like Nebraska has been for the most part since Bob Devaney left Laramie for Lincoln.

Many of the 14 players Eaton dismissed from the team saw their dreams of playing in the NFL die on that fateful Saturday -- Oct. 18, 1969 -- when Cowboy football marched on without them against BYU.

"James would have been an outstanding defensive back. He loved to hit, and he had speed," McAtee, now retired but still living in Hanna, said. "They were going to be a great team. James didn't know this prejudice when he left home like some of the other black players had known. ...

"Everyone in the state knew about James from the regional and state track meets. If the Black 14 hadn't happened, he would have had an outstanding career at Wyoming and possibly played professionally. He was that good."

Every year on Memorial Day, the Isaac children return to Hanna and then drive to the cemetery in Rawlins to visit the graves of their beloved parents and James.

Clinton Jr., who has worked at the same company in Denver since graduating from Hanna High School in 1966, summed the emotions of his recent trip to Laramie this way:

"It was exciting to see so many students standing behind those 14 black athletes 40 years later," Clinton Jr. said. "My feeling is that the University of Wyoming has come a long way. And I'm sure what happened 40 years ago is still impacting the university today. ...

"When we get together to remember James, I think about what would have happened if he had been allowed to stay. What happened there did not change James. But after the university let him down, I think he let himself down. His chances in life would have been a lot better if he never left the University of Wyoming."

Former Casper Star-Tribune sports writer Ryan Thorburn is a graduate of Natrona County High School. He now works for the Boulder Daily Camera in Colorado and authored "Black 14: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Wyoming Football" earlier this year.