LARAMIE — All Mel Hamilton ever wanted was to make a difference in students’ lives. Whether it was college students at Wyoming, his alma mater, or Casper’s East Junior High School, where he was a principal, Hamilton wanted to educate. He wanted to have an impact.

Yet, somehow, he wasn’t terribly shocked when he woke up one winter morning in 1999 to see someone had drawn three sixes in the snow outside his home. That teachers referred to him as “monkey this and monkey that” and even worse racist language he felt was more sad than infuriating.

As a new principal, he had tried to get rid of half a dozen teachers whom he didn’t believe were doing their jobs well. However, it was more than that. He knew it.

Hamiltonwas preparing to play BYU at War Memorial the next day.

The players had a question. Could they wear black armbands in silent protest? The year before, in their victory at BYU, they said Cougars players taunted them with racial epithets. The Wyoming players had also learned that the Mormon Church, which BYU represents, did not allow African-Americans in the priesthood.

This was America, 1969. The year before, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. The Vietnam War raged, and so did antiwar protests.

But this was also Wyoming, 1969. Eaton, citing a policy against protests, a rule no player had heard of, said no. He then kicked all 14 off the team for the rest of the season. Only three would play for Wyoming again.

“We knew how Lloyd Eaton