Williams v. Eaton

• Decision Date: 18 October 1971
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 5412.
• Citation: 333 F. Supp. 107
• Parties: Joe Harold WILLIAMS et al., Plaintiffs, v. Lloyd EATON, as Football Coach of the University of Wyoming, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Wyoming

333 F. Supp. 107

Joe Harold WILLIAMS et al., Plaintiffs, v. Lloyd EATON, as Football Coach of the University of Wyoming, et al., Defendants.

Civ. No. 5412.

United States District Court, D. Wyoming.

October 18, 1971.

Charles E. Graves, Graves & Smyth, Weston W. Reeves, Cheyenne, Wyo., Hatchett, Brown, Waterman & Campbell, Pontiac, Mich., Jack Greenberg and Haywood Burns, New York City, for plaintiffs.

Clarence A. Brimmer, Atty. Gen., Cheyenne, Wyo., for defendants.

FINDINGS OF FACT AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

KERR, District Judge.

The above entitled matter coming on regularly for hearing before this Court upon the mandate of the United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit, 443 F. 2d 422, wherein it was stated that the cause be remanded for further proceedings for equitable and declaratory relief, and the Court having heard and received the evidence adduced on behalf of each of the parties hereto, and having heard the arguments of counsel, makes the following Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, to-wit:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. That three of the original Plaintiffs, John M. Griffin, Donald K. Meadows and Theodore T. Williams, have voluntarily withdrawn as parties from the above entitled action;

2. That ten of the Plaintiffs in the above entitled action, Joe Harold Williams, Earl Lee, Ron Hill, Anthony E. McGee, William Lark Hysaw, Jerome Berry, Ivy Moore, Lionel Earl Grimes, James Isaac and Anthony Gibson, failed to appear and offer any evidence in support of their claims in the above entitled cause;

3. That only one of the original 14 Plaintiffs, Melvin R. Hamilton, appeared in person and offered evidence in support of his claims;

4. That each of the Plaintiffs were members of the University of Wyoming football team on the morning of October 17, 1969, when, at the approximate hour of 9:30 a. m., the Plaintiffs, while dressed in civilian clothing, confronted Head Football Coach Lloyd Eaton and members of his coaching staff in Memorial Fieldhouse at the University of Wyoming, at which time each of the Plaintiffs were wearing black armbands; that at that time the spokesman for Plaintiffs was also one of the Plaintiffs, Joe Harold Williams, who was then serving as a tri-captain of the University of Wyoming football team; that prior thereto, and after football practice on the afternoon of October 16, 1969, Head Coach Lloyd Eaton had spoken with Joe Harold Williams as such tri-captain, at which time Coach Eaton was in possession of a copy of a letter dated October 14, 1969, addressed to Dr. William D. Carlson, President of the University of Wyoming, signed by Willie S. Black, as Chancellor of the Black Students Alliance, an organization on the campus of the University of Wyoming, demanding that:

(a) University officials at the University of Wyoming, as well as other member institutions in the Western Athletic Conference, not use student monies and university facilities to play host to and thereby in part sanction alleged inhuman racist policies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, hereinafter referred to as the Mormon Church;

(b) That athletic directors in the Western Athletic Conference refuse to schedule and play games with Brigham Young University so long as the Mormon Church continues such alleged policies;

(c) That black athletes in the Western Athletic Conference protest in some way any contest with Brigham Young University so long as the Mormon Church continues such alleged policies; and

(d) That all white people of good will, athletes included, protest with their Black fellows a policy allegedly clearly inhuman and racist and that the symbol of protest be the black armband worn throughout any contest involving Brigham Young University.

That Coach Lloyd Eaton on October 16, 1969, made specific references to the letter and reminded Joe Harold Williams of the coaching rule prohibiting members of the University of Wyoming football team from participating in demonstrations and protests, and Coach Eaton advised said Joe Harold Williams that there would be no demonstrations or protests in relationship to the scheduled football game between Wyoming and Brigham Young University; that at the time of the meeting and conference between Head Football Coach Lloyd Eaton and Joe Harold Williams, each of the Plaintiffs were members of the Black Students Alliance, an organization on the campus of the University of Wyoming; that at the time of the said meeting, there was in existence a football coaching rule enumerated by the coaching staff at the University of Wyoming prohibiting members of the University of Wyoming football team from participating in demonstrations and protests and that such rule had been made well known to each of the Plaintiffs during the Spring football practice of 1969, again during the Fall football practice of 1969, again specifically on October 14, 1969, and again at the conference between Coach Eaton and Joe Harold Williams held following practice on October 16, 1969.

5. That at all times commencing with Spring football practice of 1969, to and until October 17, 1969, the Plaintiffs were aware of the existence of the football coaching rule prohibiting members of the University of Wyoming football team from participating in protests and demonstrations; that during this entire time, none of the Plaintiffs protested or objected to the football coaching rule, and that during this time each of the Plaintiffs accepted the benefits of athletic scholarships granted them by the University of Wyoming for their attendance and education at the University of Wyoming in return for their agreement to play football for the University.

6. That when the Plaintiffs confronted Coach Lloyd Eaton in Memorial Fieldhouse, University of Wyoming, at Laramie, Wyoming, at the approximate hour of 9:30 a. m., on the morning of October 17, 1969, dressed in civilian clothing, each of the Plaintiffs were wearing black armbands in specific protest demonstration against claimed religious beliefs of the Mormon Church and Brigham Young University; each of the Plaintiffs were then members of the University of Wyoming football team and were then in violation of the football coaching rule prohibiting members of that team from participating in demonstrations and protests; each of the Plaintiffs were then and there using the tax-supported facilities and properties of the University of Wyoming and, therefore, of the State of Wyoming, and were undertaking a protest demonstration against the Mormon Church involving religious beliefs of that Church and Brigham Young University; that Coach Lloyd Eaton informed the Plaintiffs that they were dismissed from the University of Wyoming football team.

7. That immediately following the confrontation between the Plaintiffs and Coach Eaton, President William D. Carlson of the University of Wyoming and his administrative staff undertook and conducted hearings into the dispute; President Carlson and his staff met and spoke with Coach Lloyd Eaton, Athletic Director Glen Jacoby, and the entire University of Wyoming football coaching staff and during this conference, Coach Eaton related to President Carlson that he had definitely applied the football coaching rule prohibiting members of the football team from participating in any demonstrations or protests such as the one then undertaken by the Plaintiffs against the LDS Church and the Mormon religion; that Coach Lloyd Eaton stated to President Carlson, which was thereafter related to the Plaintiffs, that he would meet and discuss the return of the Plaintiffs by meeting with them personally and individually; and that none of the Plaintiffs elected or agreed in anywise to meet or speak with Coach Eaton individually.

8. That following the meeting with Coach Eaton, Athletic Director Jacoby and the football coaching staff, President William D. Carlson and his administrative staff then met with the Plaintiffs and one Willie S. Black, Chancellor of the Black Students Alliance, an organization on the campus of the University of Wyoming; that this meeting commenced in the late morning of October 17, 1969, and continued into the late afternoon of that day; that during the time of these meetings the Plaintiffs made a number of remarks relating to claimed discriminatory racial policies of the Mormon Church and Brigham Young University as they relate to the black man; that during these meetings each of the Plaintiffs was wearing a black armband in protest-demonstration to claimed religious beliefs of the Church of Jesus Christ, Latter-Day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church, and Brigham Young University.

9. President William D. Carlson of the University of Wyoming has testified that as a result of the hearings and conferences which he and his administrative staff conducted that he, as President of the University of Wyoming, had the power and authority to overrule Lloyd Eaton relating to this dismissal of the Plaintiffs but that he had determined that the dispute, together with the possibilities of settlement thereof, should be heard and considered by the highest governing board of the University of Wyoming, the Board of Trustees, as the final and ultimate University authority to determine the dismissal of the Plaintiffs.

10. That the Defendant Coach Lloyd Eaton, Athletic Director Glen Jacoby and the entire coaching staff, together with the Plaintiffs herein and Willie S. Black were informed of the fact that an emergency-hearing would be held and conducted by the Board of Trustees of the University of Wyoming commencing at the approximate hour of eight o'clock p. m., on the evening of October 17, 1969, and that all of the interested and affected parties to the dispute would be heard; that prior notice of the emergency-hearing was given to all parties in ample time for them to prepare to present their views to the Board of Trustees; that the emergency-hearing of the Board of Trustees of the University of Wyoming was called by ...