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Earl Lloyd Research Paper

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Earl Lloyd died February 26, 2015, in Crossville, Tennessee. He is remembered for being the first African-American to play in an NBA game, breaking its racial barrier. Earl Lloyd played in the NBA and was later named the first African- American assistant coach and the first to be named a bench coach.
Earl Francis Lloyd was born on April 3, 1928, in Alexandria, Virginia. After playing for a segregated high school, he starred for historically black West Virginia State College. A rugged 6-foot-6, 220-pound forward, Lloyd played in the NBA for nine seasons. Lloyd and Jim Tucker became the first two black players on an NBA championship team, playing for the Syracuse Nationals. As Earl Lloyd grew older he constantly came face to face with difficult issues and/or decisions.
Lloyd didn’t know he’d been drafted by the NBA until a friend told him she’d heard a rumor that he’d be moving to Washington. Joining an all-white team was intimidating, Lloyd recalled, but his teammates were immediately welcoming; However, Some fans were less kind. A white man in the front row asked:
“Do you think this boy can play any basketball?” Lloyd’s mother leaned forward and told him not to worry: “The boy,” she said, “can play.” On October 31, 1950, Earl Lloyd became the first African-American to play in an NBA game, for the …show more content…

Lloyd was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 2003 for breaking the NBA racial barrier. He said that he had never encountered racial resentment from teammates or opposing players, but he remembered taunts from spectators. Lloyd stated that, “My philosophy was: If they weren’t calling you names, you weren’t doing anything. If they were calling you names, you were hurting them.” Lloyd recalled how a hotel manager in Baltimore refused to give him a room during a trip in the early 1950s and how his coach, Al Cervi, protested loudly to no avail. This proves that Earl Lloyd had to get past Hard times to Achieve something

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