In the late 1960s, athletes in the western US were reasonably appalled by the personal and institutional racism they experienced at Bigot University in Provo. African-American players and fans generally at San Jose State boycotted a game against Bigot U. in the fall of 1968, just a month after Spartan heroes Tommy Smith and John Carlos heroically protested US oppression at the Olympic Games in Mexico City. In April 1969, Texas Western track and field athletes including Olympic hero Bob Beamon were kicked off the team and thus lost their scholarships for refusing to participate in a track meet at Bigot U. In October, members of the nationally-ranked Wyoming Cowboy football team respectfully asked to be allowed to wear black armbands in a game against Bigot U. as a silent protest of their horrific beliefs and behavior.
"Our Humanity Demands:... That all people of good will - whatever their color - athletes included" protest this policy, the document noted. Further, it called on UW and all WAC schools to stop using "student monies and university facilities to play host to [BYU and] thereby, in part, sanction those inhuman and racist policies...."
Their good ol' boy coached tossed the players from the team for being insolent and uppity without even allowing them to explain their request. He later testified in federal court that he told them that "if the program at Wyoming was not satisfactory then perhaps they had better think about going to Morgan State or Grambling."
Losing their scholarships, many of the players had to drop out of school.
The following month, Stanford University announced an official policy that it would not schedule athletic competitions with institutions sponsored by the LDS church. The statement referenced a NY Times article that stated that only 3 of Bigot U.'s 25,000 students were African-American.
