Williams v. Eaton

• Decision Date: 25 March 1970
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 5412.
• Citation: 310 F. Supp. 1342
• 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

310 F. Supp. 1342

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.

March 25, 1970.

Graves & Smyth and Weston W. Reeves, Cheyenne, Wyo.

Hatchett, Brown, Waterman & Campbell, Pontiac, Mich.

Jack Greenberg and Haywood Burns, New York City, for plaintiffs.

James E. Barrett, Atty. Gen. State of Wyo., Jack Speight, Spec. Asst. Atty. Gen., State of Wyo., Cheyenne, Wyo., for defendants.

ORDER GRANTING MOTION TO DISMISS (WITH FINDINGS).

KERR, District Judge.

This matter having come on regularly for hearing before the Court upon the Motion to Dismiss and/or Motion for Summary Judgment filed herein by the defendants, by and through their attorney, James E. Barrett, Attorney General, State of Wyoming, dated November 20, 1969, and the Court having read and considered respective briefs and written arguments submitted by the respective parties, filed with the Court under date of January 19, 1970, and having further considered the entire record in this proceeding, including all of the pleadings, the transcript of proceedings had, and evidence adduced before this Court under date of November 10, 1969, upon the plaintiffs' application unto the Court for a temporary restraining order and for convening a three-judge Federal panel, together with the supplementary proceedings and affidavits filed herein in support of the defendants' motion to dismiss and/or for summary judgment, and from the whole of the record, the Court doth find that the defendants' motion for dismissal of the plaintiffs' complaint should be granted on the grounds and for the reasons that the plaintiffs' complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and for the further reason that the plaintiffs' complaint and claim for damages is insubstantial and too speculative, and the Court doth specifically find, as follows, to-wit:

1. That each of the fourteen 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 o'clock a.m., the fourteen 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 fourteen were wearing black armbands; that at that time the spokesman for the fourteen was the plaintiff Joe Harold Williams, who was then serving as a tri-captain of the University of Wyoming football team; that following football practice on the afternoon of October 16, 1969, Head Coach Lloyd Eaton spoke with Joe Harold Williams, 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; and

(e) That Coach Lloyd Eaton made specific references to the aforesaid letter and advised 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 aforesaid meeting and conference between Head Football Coach Lloyd Eaton and Joe Harold Williams, each of the fourteen plaintiffs were members of the Black Students Alliance, an organization on the campus of the University of Wyoming; that at the time of the aforesaid 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 such rule was made well known to each of the fourteen 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.

2. That at all times commencing with the Spring football practice of 1969, to and until October 17, 1969, the fourteen 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 fourteen plaintiffs protested or objected to the football coaching rule, and during this time each of the fourteen 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.

3. That when the fourteen plaintiffs confronted Coach Lloyd Eaton in Memorial Fieldhouse, University of Wyoming, at Laramie, Wyoming, at the approximate hour of 9:30 o'clock a.m., on the morning of October 17, 1969, then and there dressed in civilian clothing, each of the fourteen plaintiffs were wearing black armbands in specific protest demonstration against claimed religious beliefs of the Mormon Church and Brigham Young University; each of the fourteen 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 fourteen 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 undertaking a protest demonstration against the Mormon Church involving religious beliefs of that Church and Brigham Young University; that Coach Lloyd Eaton informed the fourteen plaintiffs that they were dismissed from the University of Wyoming football team.

4. That immediately following the confrontation between the fourteen plaintiffs with Coach Lloyd Eaton aforesaid, 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 Glenn 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 in relationship to the nature of the protest demonstration then undertaken by the fourteen plaintiffs against an organized church or religion; that Coach Lloyd Eaton stated to President Carlson, which was thereafter related to the fourteen 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.

5. 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 fourteen 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 late afternoon of that day; that during the time of these meetings the fourteen 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 fourteen plaintiffs were wearing the black armbands 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.

6. 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 Coach Lloyd Eaton relating to this dismissal of the fourteen 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.

7. That the defendant Coach Lloyd Eaton, Athletic Director Glenn Jacoby and the entire coaching staff, together with the fourteen plaintiffs herein and the aforesaid 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...