In the 1960s one of the strongest voices was that of the black athlete. Not at the University of Wyoming. The only colors that mattered here in '69 were brown and gold, and the only issue worth paying attention to was Cowboy football. Wyoming's 14 black players wanted to wear black armbands during the upcoming game against Brigham Young University to protest the policies of the Mormon Church, which did not allow blacks to enter into the priesthood. The head coach Lloyd Eaton gave them the boot. And everything about Cowboys football changed forever.

Cowboy Up As the dark clouds of World War II were looming on the horizon, an American original named Kenny Sailors was capturing the attention of the country and leading the University of Wyoming basketball program on an astonishing run to the NCAA championship. Sailors, pioneer of the modern jump shot, took New York's Madison Square Garden by storm while leading the Cowboys to a national championship. Before the confetti was cleaned up, the All-American was off to war. The Wyoming treasure would return to campus in Laramie and later became one of the NBA's early stars. Cowboy Up weaves the brilliant tapestry of Wyoming's rich hoops history -- from the program's original championship team of the 1930s to high-soaring Flynn Robinson and the dazzling Fennis Dembo -- around Sailors' remarkable story. If you love basketball history, then you need to get acquainted with Sailors and the golden age of the Cowboys.