View source for Lloyd Eaton

{{Short description|American football player, coach, and executive (1918–2007)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Lloyd Eaton
| image = 
| alt = 
| caption = 
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1918|3|23}}
| birth_place = 
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|3|14|1918|3|23}}
| death_place = [[Nampa, Idaho]], U.S.
| alma_mater = 
| player_years1 = 1938–1939
| player_team1 = [[Black Hills State Yellow Jackets football|Black Hills State]]
| player_positions = [[End (gridiron football)|End]]
| coach_years1 = 1940
| coach_team1 = [[Black Hills State Yellow Jackets football|Black Hills State]] (line)
| coach_years2 = 1949–1955
| coach_team2 = [[Alma Scots football|Alma]]
| coach_years3 = 1956
| coach_team3 = [[Northern Michigan Wildcats football|Northern Michigan]]
| coach_years4 = 1957–1961
| coach_team4 = [[Wyoming Cowboys football|Wyoming]] (DL)
| coach_years5 = 1962–1970
| coach_team5 = Wyoming
| admin_years1 = 1970–1980?
| admin_team1 = [[Green Bay Packers]] (dir. of player pers.)
| overall_record = 104–53–5 (college)
| bowl_record = 1–1
| tournament_record = 
| championships = 2 [[Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association|MIAA]] (1950–1951)<br>3 [[Western Athletic Conference|WAC]] (1966–1968)
| awards = 
| coaching_records = 
}}
'''Lloyd W. Eaton''' (March 23, 1918 – March 14, 2007) was an [[American football]] player, coach, and executive.  He served as the head coach at [[Alma College]] (1949–1955), [[Northern Michigan University]] (1956), and the [[University of Wyoming]] (1962–1970), compiling a career [[college football]] record of 104–53–4.  Eaton then worked as the director of player personnel for the [[Green Bay Packers]] of the [[National Football League]] (NFL). Despite winning five conference championships with two teams, he is perhaps most known for his decision to kick 14 black players off of the Wyoming football team for discussing a protest against discrimination in 1969 that is infamously referred to as the "Black 14" incident.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Black 14: Race, Politics, Religion and Wyoming Football |url=https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/black-14-race-politics-religion-and-wyoming-football |website=WyoHistory.org |access-date=December 17, 2024}}</ref>

==Early years==
Growing up in [[Belle Fourche, South Dakota]],<ref name=Henderson2009>{{cite news |last=Henderson |first=John |title=Spirit of the Black 14 |url=http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_13739558 |newspaper=The Denver Post |date=November 8, 2009 |access-date=November 15, 2015}}</ref> Eaton was an outstanding football, track, and boxing athlete at Belle Fourche High School. He graduated from [[Black Hills State University|Black Hills State Teachers College]] where he played end and became captain of the team in his junior year.

==Coaching career==
Eaton remained at Black Hills after graduation, becoming the line coach there for one year. He then coached football at Dupree High School for several years leading up to his service in [[World War II]].

Following the war, he returned to coaching at Bennett County High School in [[Martin, South Dakota]], and then earned a master's degree at the [[University of Michigan]]. There he coached the 150-pound football team.

He began doctoral studies at [[Indiana University Bloomington]], then moved on to coach football at [[Alma College]] in Michigan. His teams won the 1950 and 1951 [[Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association]] championship titles, and he compiled a record of 40–20–2.  His influence there was felt by player [[Denny Stolz]], who later became a successful coach.

Eaton was a detail-oriented disciplinarian who made a name for himself by introducing new techniques that helped smaller defensive linemen.  "[Smaller defensive linemen] became very popular as a result," recalled [[Paul Roach]], Eaton's assistant at Wyoming. "I think this became somewhat of a springboard for him to be elevated as a head football coach, and he certainly had an outstanding career as a head football coach".<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Wyoming coach remembered as tough, dedicated |url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=2799795 |publisher=[[ESPN]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=March 15, 2007 |access-date=November 29, 2022 }}</ref>

Eaton left Alma in 1956 and coached at [[Northern Michigan University]] for one year.

===Wyoming===
From 1957 to 1961, Eaton served as defensive line coach at the [[University of Wyoming]], and in 1962, he succeeded [[Bob Devaney]] as head coach there.  In that role, he became one of the university's most successful coaches, compiling a record of 57–33–2. His greatest success came in the 1966, 1967, and 1968 seasons.  In those three years, the team posted back-to-back 10–1 seasons, including a 14-game winning streak from November 5, 1966 to January 1, 1968, then followed this by going 7-3 in the 1968 regular season. His teams won the [[1966 Sun Bowl]] and played in the [[1968 Sugar Bowl]].

===="Black 14" controversy====
{{main|1969_Wyoming_Cowboys_football_team#"Black_14"_controversy}}
In 1969, during the "Black 14" incident, Eaton dismissed 14 black Wyoming players from the team for planning to wear black armbands during a game against the [[1969 BYU Cougars football team|BYU Cougars]]. At a victory against BYU the previous year, players from the Cougars had subjected them to racial epithets.<ref name=Henderson2009/> A week before the upcoming game, the team's black members were reminded of the incident and also informed about the racial policies of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (which owns and operates BYU, and which up until 1978 excluded black people from the church's [[Priesthood_(LDS_Church)|priesthood]] as well as any temple ceremonies - also had been proscribed from proxy baptisms on behalf of the dead by David O McKay unlike his predecessors that permitted them for blacks) by Willie Black, leader of Wyoming's Black Student Alliance, and challenged them to do something about it.<ref name=Henderson2009/>  The day before the game, the players approached coach Eaton to tell him that they were planning to wear black armbands during the game in protest; Eaton forbade it.<ref name=Henderson2009/> The players then arranged to meet with Eaton, intending to discuss with him the terms of their protest.<ref name=Henderson2009/><ref name=Putnam1969>{{cite news|last1=Putnam|first1=Pat|title=No Defeats, Loads of Trouble|url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1969/11/03/no-defeats-loads-of-trouble|work=Sports Illustrated|date=November 3, 1969|access-date=November 14, 2015}}</ref> According to Joe Williams, a team co-captain before he was suspended from the team, "We wanted to see if we could wear black armbands in the game, or black socks, or black X's on our helmets. And if he had said no we had already agreed that we would be willing to protest with nothing but our black skins."<ref name=Putnam1969/>

Eaton took them to the bleachers in the old fieldhouse.<ref name=Henderson2009/> Eaton says he listened to their suggestions for ten minutes before deciding to dismiss them from the team.<ref name=Putnam1969/> Williams gives a very different account: "He [Eaton] came in, sneered at us and yelled that we were off the squad. He said our very presence defied him. He said he has had some good [[Negro]] boys. Just like that."<ref name=Putnam1969/> [[Defensive end]] Tony McGee said that Eaton "said we could go to Grambling State or Morgan State ... We could go back to colored relief. If anyone said anything, he told us to shut up. We were really protesting policies we thought were racist. Maybe we should've been protesting there."<ref name=Henderson2009/> John Griffin, a [[wide receiver]], corroborates McGee's memory.<ref name=Henderson2009/>

At [[San Jose State University]], the team voted to wear multicolored armbands against Wyoming in support of the 14, and groups at other [[Western Athletic Conference]] schools demanded that Wyoming be dropped from their schedules. At the time of the incident, the team was undefeated (4–0) and ranked No. 12 in the nation. Even though Wyoming beat BYU and then San Jose State in the next game without the players, the Cowboys lost the last four games of 1969 season and went 1–9 the next year, which prompted the school to fire Eaton.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Lloyd Eaton Steps Down At Wyoming |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19701206&id=8IwsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=JMwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3273,1058628 |newspaper=[[Spartanburg Herald-Journal]] |location=[[Spartanburg, South Carolina]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |page=B2 |date=December 7, 1970 |access-date=November 29, 2022 |via=[[Google News]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=No regrets, sat Eaton 13 years after 'crash' |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19820514&id=gdtaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=l20DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7143,3141541 |newspaper=[[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |location=[[Pittsburgh|Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |page=17 |date=May 14, 1982 |access-date=November 29, 2022 |via=[[Google News]] }}</ref>

The "Black 14" incident spurred the court case ''Williams v. Eaton'', with the issue of free speech against the principle of separation of church and state. Litigation was lengthy for this case and ended on October 31, 1972.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Introduction|url = http://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/black14/|website = The Black 14|accessdate = November 12, 2015|publisher = University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center|url-status = dead|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20151223202406/http://www.uwyo.edu/ahc/black14/|archivedate = December 23, 2015}}</ref>

==NFL executive and scout==
In 1972, Eaton became the director of player personnel for the [[Green Bay Packers]] of the [[National Football League]] (NFL).<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Lloyd Eaton Joins Packers |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1873&dat=19720519&id=gU8fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=t9EEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4043,905620 |newspaper=[[The Daytona Beach News-Journal]] |location=[[Daytona Beach, Florida]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |page=17 |date=May 19, 1972 |access-date=November 29, 2022 |via=[[Google News]] }}</ref> He was demoted to a scouting position four years later. He later served as the western regional director for the [[BLESTO]] player rating service of the NFL, before retiring in the mid-1980s.

==Honors==
Eaton was elected to the Alma Athletic Hall of Fame in 1973 and the Wyoming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1984.

==Personal life and death==
Eaton was once married and divorced, living purposefully without a phone.<ref>{{Cite web|title = The Black 14: Race, Politics, Religion and Wyoming Football|url = http://www.wyohistory.org/essays/black-14-race-politics-religion-and-wyoming-football|website = WYOHistory.org|accessdate = November 12, 2015|last = White|first = Phil}}</ref> He died at the age of 88, on March 14, 2007 in [[Nampa, Idaho]].<ref name=Henderson2009/>

==Head coaching record==
===College===
{{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = both }}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Alma Scots football|Alma Scots]]
 | conf      = [[Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association]]
 | startyear = 1949
 | endyear   = 1955
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1949 college football season|1949]]
 | name         = Alma
 | overall      = 5–2–1
 | conference   = 2–2–1
 | confstanding = T–3rd
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = conference
 | year         = [[1950 college football season|1950]]
 | name         = Alma
 | overall      = 6–2–1
 | conference   = 4–0–1
 | confstanding = 1st
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = conference
 | year         = [[1951 college football season|1951]]
 | name         = Alma
 | overall      = 7–2
 | conference   = 4–1
 | confstanding = T–1st
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1952 college football season|1952]]
 | name         = Alma
 | overall      = 4–4
 | conference   = 2–3
 | confstanding = T–3rd
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1953 college football season|1953]]
 | name         = Alma
 | overall      = 7–2
 | conference   = 4–2
 | confstanding = 3rd
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1954 college football season|1954]]
 | name         = Alma
 | overall      = 6–4
 | conference   = 2–4
 | confstanding = 5th
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1955 college football season|1955]]
 | name         = [[1955 Alma Scots football team|Alma]]
 | overall      = 5–4
 | conference   = 3–3
 | confstanding = T–3rd
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = Alma
 | overall    = 40–20–2
 | confrecord = 21–15–2
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Northern Michigan Wildcats football|Northern Michigan Wildcats]]
 | conf      = Independent
 | startyear = 1956
 | endyear   = single
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship =
 | year         = [[1956 college football season|1956]]
 | name         = [[1956 Northern Michigan Wildcats football team|Northern Michigan]]
 | overall      = 7–0–1
 | conference   = 
 | confstanding = 
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = Northern Michigan
 | overall    = 7–0–1
 | confrecord = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subhead
 | name      = [[Wyoming Cowboys football|Wyoming Cowboys]]
 | conf      = [[Western Athletic Conference]]
 | startyear = 1962
 | endyear   = 1970
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1962 NCAA University Division football season|1962]]
 | name         = [[1962 Wyoming Cowboys football team|Wyoming]]
 | overall      = 5–5
 | conference   = 2–2
 | confstanding = T–2nd
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1963 NCAA University Division football season|1963]]
 | name         = [[1963 Wyoming Cowboys football team|Wyoming]]
 | overall      = 6–4
 | conference   = 2–3
 | confstanding = 5th
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1964 NCAA University Division football season|1964]]
 | name         = [[1964 Wyoming Cowboys football team|Wyoming]]
 | overall      = 6–2–2
 | conference   = 2–2
 | confstanding = 4th
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1965 NCAA University Division football season|1965]]
 | name         = [[1965 Wyoming Cowboys football team|Wyoming]]
 | overall      = 6–4
 | conference   = 3–2
 | confstanding = 3rd
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = conference
 | year         = [[1966 NCAA University Division football season|1966]]
 | name         = [[1966 Wyoming Cowboys football team|Wyoming]]
 | overall      = 10–1
 | conference   = 5–0
 | confstanding = 1st
 | bowlname     = [[1966 Sun Bowl|Sun]]
 | bowloutcome  = W
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 15
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = conference
 | year         = [[1967 NCAA University Division football season|1967]]
 | name         = [[1967 Wyoming Cowboys football team|Wyoming]]
 | overall      = 10–1
 | conference   = 5–0
 | confstanding = 1st
 | bowlname     = [[1968 Sugar Bowl|Sugar]]
 | bowloutcome  = L
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 5
 | ranking2     = 6
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = conference
 | year         = [[1968 NCAA University Division football season|1968]]
 | name         = [[1968 Wyoming Cowboys football team|Wyoming]]
 | overall      = 7–3
 | conference   = 6–1
 | confstanding = 1st
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1969 NCAA University Division football season|1969]]
 | name         = [[1969 Wyoming Cowboys football team|Wyoming]]
 | overall      = 6–4
 | conference   = 4–3
 | confstanding = T–3rd
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Entry
 | championship = 
 | year         = [[1970 NCAA University Division football season|1970]]
 | name         = [[1970 Wyoming Cowboys football team|Wyoming]]
 | overall      = 1–9
 | conference   = 1–6
 | confstanding = T–7th
 | bowlname     = 
 | bowloutcome  = 
 | bcsbowl      = 
 | ranking      = 
 | ranking2     = 
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
 | name       = Wyoming
 | overall    = 57–33–2
 | confrecord = 32–19
}}
{{CFB Yearly Record End
 | overall  = 104–53–5
 | bowls    = no
 | poll     = two
 | polltype = 
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite web |url=https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/black-14-race-politics-religion-and-wyoming-football |title=The Black 14: Race, Politics, Religion and Wyoming Football |first=Phil |last=White |website=WyoHistory.org |date=November 8, 2014}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=22566174 |title=SC Featured: Before Kaepernick, there was The Black 14 |website=[[ESPN]] |date=February 2018}} (video)

==External links==
* {{Find a Grave}}

{{Alma Scots football coach navbox}}
{{Northern Michigan Wildcats football coach navbox}}
{{Wyoming Cowboys football coach navbox}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Lloyd}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:American football ends]]
[[Category:Alma Scots football coaches]]
[[Category:Black Hills State Yellow Jackets football coaches]]
[[Category:Black Hills State Yellow Jackets football players]]
[[Category:Green Bay Packers executives]]
[[Category:Northern Michigan Wildcats football coaches]]
[[Category:Wyoming Cowboys football coaches]]
[[Category:High school football coaches in South Dakota]]
[[Category:Indiana University Bloomington alumni]]
[[Category:University of Michigan alumni]]
[[Category:American military personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:People from Belle Fourche, South Dakota]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Nampa, Idaho]]
[[Category:Players of American football from South Dakota]]