“We had decided before in a meeting that if he did not agree with what we wanted to do, we were just going to play the game,” Gibson said then. “If he had said, ‘No way you’re wearing those arm bands,’ that’s fine.”

Before the group could ask the question, Eaton told them they were no longer members of the football team — an account that was consistent among the six.

“We hear (Eaton) on an interview saying they refused to play in the game because they couldn’t wear the black armbands,” Hysaw said then. “What? Really? What guys were those? It wasn’t us. We were given no choice.”

Wyoming, which had started the 1969 season 4-0 and risen to as high as No. 12 in the national rankings, beat BYU without the 14 black players but lost four of its final five games that season. Eaton was fired after a 1-9 season the following year, and the Cowboys had just one winning season over the next decade.

For some, Friday night brought closure to it all.

“I almost cried,” Williams said. “That was so great that they did that for us. I keep saying I’m surprised that they didn’t because it was one person that started the whole mess, but they’ve welcomed us back with open arms.”