Black 14: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Wyoming Football

By Ryan Thorburn

Book Overview

In the 1960s one of the strongest voices was that of the black athlete. Not at the University of Wyoming. The only colors that mattered here in '69 were brown and gold, and the only issue worth paying... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0977731898
• ISBN13: 9780977731893
• Release Date: June 2009
• Publisher: Burning Daylight
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.51 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Thoughtful, thorough, and concise review of a difficult historical time

What an amazing read! The book describes it all, but this was a difficult (some woule say shameful) chapter in history for Wyoming. Buy this book and be inspired - Wyoming football fan, or not - you will cherish the read and the lessons it taught so many. Kudos to Thorburn for shedding light on a dark past.

A fresh and provocative look into Wyoming's football past....

A good friend once told me, `being a sports fan, sets you up for certain sorrow.' Like punishment for Sisyphus, sport fans are destined to watch their favorite team push to the top only to stumble and have that rock of reality roll back over and squash them flat, over and over. I thought I knew the story of the BLACK 14, but this book sets the record straight and puts it all on the table. Turns out I knew very little of the real story. Thanks Ryan for a great book.

Short book, great story

Got Ryan Thornburn's book, "Black 14: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Wyoming Football", and read the entire book in about two hours. It's not a long book, only 151 pages of widely spaced text including index. But despite its short length, Ryan does a very good job of covering the basic story of the Black 14 incident and its effect on the Wyoming football program. A lot of what he wrote I was familiar with, but I did learn a few things about the incident I didn't know. For one, how spineless the UW administration and the governor where in letting Coach Lloyd Eaton dictate how the situation was going to be handled. I came away from the book thinking that if the athletic director, president, or governor had some ca hones, and not let Eaton run over them, the situation could have been handled in a way that wouldn't have destroyed a then top-ten football program. Ryan also does a good job of chronicling the painful climb out of obscurity to the successful tenure of AD-Head Coach Paul Roach. It's the Roach years that many of our younger fans on this board remember as Wyoming's glory years and rightfully so. But as Ryan so poignantly points out, Wyoming football of the 50's to the mid 60's was damn good and on the verge of becoming a national powerhouse. But for the stubborn shortsightedness of the head coach, all was lost. And it's this fact that makes the story of Lloyd Eaton so tragic. Eaton's inability to adapt to the changing times of the '60s was his and Wyoming football's downfall. Each of the lives of the Black 14 are detailed in the book and how the event shaped the rest of their lives. Ryan covers all of the surviving members and shows how each man dealt with the situation and what they did with their lives. Ryan covers 12 of the 14. Two were not interviewed, one having passed away, Jim Issac, and Ivie Moore, whereabouts unknown. Thornburn brings us full circle to the present time. I was shocked to read his quotes from Wyoming new head coach Dave Christensen in the book. It means that he was working on this manuscript as late as this spring to be able to include "DC". And though I was a bit disappointed at the brevity of the book (I guess I can't get enough of Wyoming football history), Thornburn covers his subject well and does justice to the most pivotal event in Wyoming football. An event which I believe we're still trying to overcome. As long as a live I'll never get over what might have been had cooler heads prevailed. On the 40th anniversary year of the Black 14 incident, thank you Ryan Thornburn for a great read! I'd recommend it to anyone who loves Wyoming football or college football for that matter.

Amazing

I was blown away by the retelling of this forgotten story. Very timely with the election of Obama to look back at our history of social progress as we go forward into the future.