Editor's Note: Nathan Beitler and Andrew Osborn, two BYU journalism students in their final year of the program, traveled to Lake City, South Carolina with Alan Neves, a journalism faculty member, to document the uplifting conversion story of a man named Mel Hamilton.
Mel Hamilton is no ordinary convert. He was a member of a group known as the Black 14. In 1969, Mel Hamilton and 13 other players were removed from the University of Wyoming football team because they asked their coach, before a game against BYU, if they could protest a then-existing policy restricting the priesthood from black members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“This was in the middle of a social revolution, I call it, where everybody was protesting racial injustice," Hamilton said. "We knew we had to do something."
Hamilton said the Church of Jesus Christ was an “easy target” for his anger following his removal from the team, but he always emphasized that his anger was never directed at people. Instead, he focused on that specific policy.
Hamilton’s son Malik eventually joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Malik was initially tentative to tell his father about his decision.
“That’s what I’m fighting for,” Hamilton told his son, “I’m fighting for a chance for you to be a priest in the Mormon church.”
Years later a conversation about food insecurity with John Griffin, another member of the Black 14, led Hamilton to wonder if The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would be able to assist them in feeding the poor. Hamilton reached out to Elder Gifford Nielsen, a General Authority Seventy and former BYU football quarterback, who told him to draft a proposal for the partnership.
BYU journalism students created a documentary in 2022 recording the inspiring story of the University of Wyoming’s Black 14 and their philanthropic work with the Church of Jesus Christ.
Since then, the Black 14 and the Church have distributed over 1.3 million pounds of food to various communities around the country.
Hamilton’s consistent exposure to members of the Church through his humanitarian work caused him to think more deeply about the faith as a whole.
“What really turned me on to the possibility of a conversion was the way the LDS folks I met were so positive and so caring and always wanting to do service for someone,” he said.
Hamilton was eventually baptized and ordained as a priesthood holder. He continues to work with the Church humanitarian programs distributing food across communities in America.