Earl Lloyd, N.B.A.’s First Black Player, Dies at 86

The New York Times ^ | February 27, 2015 | Richard Goldstein

[EveningStar]

Earl Lloyd, who became the first black player to appear in an N.B.A. game when he took the court for the Washington Capitols in October 1950, three and a half years after Jackie Robinson broke modern major league baseball’s color barrier, died on Thursday in Crossville, Tenn. He was 86 ...

When the N.B.A., going into its fifth season, prepared for its April 1950 draft, many club owners continued to resist signing a black player. Apart from the prejudices of the time, some owners feared that Abe Saperstein, the owner of the all-black, crowd-pleasing Harlem Globetrotters, would pull them from appearances in N.B.A. arenas if his roster were raided, depriving the financially hard-pressed league of a gate attraction.

But everything changed when the Boston Celtics’ owner, Walter Brown, selected Chuck Cooper, a black player from Duquesne, in the second round of the 1950 draft, and Ned Irish, running the Knicks, said he planned to purchase the rights to the highly regarded Sweetwater Clifton from the Globetrotters. The Capitols followed their leads, picking Lloyd in the ninth round ...

A fourth black player, Hank DeZonie, played in five games with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks during the 1950-51 season ...

[EveningStar]

Wikipedia

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.