March 11, 2015
Playing for the Syracuse Nationals, Earl Lloyd (11), battles Fort Wayne’s Mel Hutchins (9) for a rebound during an NBA championship game on April 5, 1955. With the series victory, Lloyd and teammate Jim Tucker became the first African Americans to become NBA champions.
Stories this photo appears in:
Paving the Way in Alexandria
Basketball pioneer Earl Lloyd dies at 86
When Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947, he did it under the glare of a national spotlight. Three years later, on a snowy evening in 1950, a similar but quieter revolution took place when a black man stepped onto a court in Rochester, N.Y., marking the first time an African American had played for an NBA team. That man was Earl Lloyd.
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