Black 14’s message of forgiveness at College Football Hall of Fame

ATLANTA, Georgia — As Craig Summers listened to members of the Black 14 share their stories on the College Football Hall of Fame on Feb. 6, he thought of his father who died 20 years ago and the bitterness his father carried.

Summers, a resident of Alpharetta, Georgia, and a father of three, attended the screening of short film “The Black 14: Healing Hearts and Feeding Souls” produced by Brigham Young University students and the following panel discussion on the Hall of Fame on the invitation of a friend.

When the moderator opened up the discussion with Mel Hamilton, John Griffin and Tony McGee to questions from the audience, Summers was the primary to boost his hand.

Summers told the previous 1969 University of Wyoming football players that his father played for the University of Illinois in 1963 and grew up in Evanston, just north of Chicago.

“Plenty of pain,” Summers said of his father’s experience. “When my mother and he desired to get an apartment in Evanston, they were refused because they were Black. He carried that bitterness. … I believe in a big part it killed my dad. … I believe quite a lot of that anger was in him.”

Summers asked the Black 14 members how they were in a position to let their very own bitterness go.

Hamilton was the primary to reply. “In all honesty, I didn’t let it go immediately,” he said.

“As a matter of fact, I didn’t let the anger go until John [Griffin] and I were discussing how we were going to assist our communities. And God works in mysterious ways. I wouldn’t watch a football game for 20 years, I used to be so indignant. Then this chance presented itself. God said it was time. It was time to let it go.

“It needed to be God, because — I even get emotional right away — it was so intense that it stifled me,” Hamilton continued. “I couldn’t do anything. And I got back along with the 14 and, hastily, it was gone. And all I used to be in search of was, ‘How can I help others?’ …

“I didn’t give it some thought; it just happened. That’s all I can inform you. It just happened. And I’m glad it did.”

Griffin said he was indignant for a decade. Then he had what he described as “one in all those revelations” — “I said, ‘Why am I continuing to harbor this anger because I cannot change history? It is what it’s.’ So I made a concerted effort to alter my perspective on what happened to me.”

In 1982 — 13 years after being dismissed from the football team — Griffin visited the University of Wyoming and attended a football game. “It was difficult,” he said, “however it was well price it to me, since it was a little bit of a cleansing step for me.”

McGee said the toughest phone call he’s ever made was to his mother in 1969 to inform her he had lost his football scholarship.

“I haven’t forgotten any of it,” McGee said of what he experienced. But he’s been in a position to channel it into something positive by helping those in need.

“All the pain will not be gone and all of the love will not be here, but we’re progressing, and we’re making it occur,” he added.

After the panel discussion ended, I discovered Summers within the audience and thanked him for asking such a vital query. He told me he was close together with his dad, and overcoming anger is something he often thinks about due to things which have happened in his life and his kids’ lives.

“But I’m a believer, and I feel that you will have to do what these men did — you will have to let it go,” Summers said. 

“It’s easy to be consumed and permit that to make you hate them, hate that and justify your anger. But that is an ongoing lesson for me personally and for me as a dad. … I believe it’s a message that’s timeless.”

As I reflect on Summers’ observations and the way these members of the Black 14 were in a position to let go of anger, I’m reminded of what Church President Russell M. Nelson has taught about forgiveness:

“When we elect to forgive others, we allow the Lord to remove the poison from our souls. We permit Him to assuage and soften our hearts, so we will see others, especially those that have wronged us, as children of God, and as our brothers and sisters. …

“I promise that as you forgive,” President Nelson continued, “the Savior will relieve you of anger, resentment and pain. … Because of Him, you may experience the enjoyment and miracle of forgiveness.”

As Summers said, it’s a message that’s timeless.