BSO: The next phase of protesting is coming from the Patriots players (Chris Long, LeGarrette Blount, Alan Branch, Martellus Bennett, Devin McCourty and linebacker Dont’a Hightower) that have chosen not visit the White House. They are receiving more heat than Tom Brady when he chose not to visit when Obama was President.
TM: I applaud all these guys. Chris Long, I know his father Howie Long. We aren’t close but I’ve met him at the Superbowl and he was always a stand up guy so im not surprised. They have their right to not attend. I applaud them for it if that’s what they wanna do. I keep thinking back to Kaepernick and us and I just think, make it very clear why you are doing what you are doing. It’s pretty clear with the Patriot players why they aren’t going.
BSO: It’s been over 40 years since Wyoming removed you from the team. You went on to win a Superbowl ring with the Redskins and have a beautiful life. When this story airs on Saturday night, will you feel vindicated? Has the page finally turned on this chapter?
TM: To be speaking with you now, I know the page has turned. There was a white junior high student about 3 months ago doing a book report on the Black 14 that called to speak with me to get all the facts right, the page has turned. For a book to be written about this 10 years ago showing us in a positive light and now a documentary, I know the page has turned.
I am blessed. I was blessed with great parents that were around when I started this. I played 14 years in the NFL and God put me in the position. A lot of people don’t know Wyoming tried to take that way from me from too. I was about to be drafted by the LA Rams in the first round and they called Wyoming and were told I was the main trouble maker. Wyoming lied on me and nobody said they were wrong for doing that.
Before I let you go, let me tell you this,
My father was an activist well back in the 60s. At some point there was a rich oil man down in Texas who said if anybody wanted to leave the country he would pay their way out. Well my father wrote him a letter and said “I would like to move to Africa.” So the guy told him he has to say he’s a socialist or something. My father said I’m not going to say that because I have a second class citizenship and I want to go where I can be first class. So the oil guy reneged. When that was going on we were getting so much hate mail. We were getting hate mail all the way from Florida with just my father’s name on it. They didn’t even need the address.
My father died at 40 in 1966. He died on February 11. And this documentary is coming out on February 11.
The next year after we were taken off the team Brigham Young put there first black player on the team. So what we went through was worth it since it lead to making that happen. If I had to do it over again, I’d do it all over again.
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THE BLACK 14: WYOMING FOOTBALL 1969 Debuts Saturday, February 11 at 10:30 PM, ET on CBS Sports Net.