Race in the NBA
1955 photo depicting the Syracuse Nats celebrating their NBA Finals win. Identifiable figures are from L to R: Earl Lloyd (11, smiling), Al Cervi (suited, facing away from camera), George King (3, raised on his teammates' shoulders), Johnny Kerr (10), and Paul Seymour (5).
Earl Lloyd (center) was the first Black player to compete in an NBA game. On Halloween Night 1950, in Rochester NY, Lloyd broke the color barrier in the NBA. He played his groundbreaking game for the Washington Capitols, but spent the majority of his career with the Syracuse Nats. Lloyd's 1950 game is certainly incredible, but the history of race in the NBA does not begin with Earl Lloyd.
Lloyd being the first to play in an NBA game was actually caused more by a quirk of the schedule. Chuck Cooper was the first Black player drafted into the NBA, joining the Boston Celtics from the Harlem Globetrotters. Cooper was chosen in the second round by the Celtics, while Lloyd was picked up in the ninth round by the Washington Capitols. Lloyd credits Cooper and Celtics' coach Red Auerbach for breaking the color barrier and making other NBA teams comfortable enough to draft Black players like him. Before 1950, mixed race professional leagues and all-Black exhibition teams like the Harlem Globetrotters paved the way for Lloyd and Cooper.
Photograph taken in 1953 or 1954 depicting the 1953-1954 Nats, "The Bandage Brigade"
Lloyd played in a predominantly white league, and segregation was still the law of the land. The Nats won their first championship in 1955, only a year after the landmark supreme court case ending segregation in schools, Brown v. Board of Education, was decided. While living in Syracuse, Lloyd resided in the all-Black 15th Ward, a segregated neighborhood with a vibrant, close knit community.
For the most part, Lloyd gelled with his teammates professionally, but he still encountered insensitivity and racism from fellow players. Lloyd recounted a time where the team was scheduled to play an exhibition game in South Carolina. Because of the segregation laws in that state, Lloyd was not asked to come down with the team. He recognized the reality of the laws in South Carolina, but was very upset that none of his teammates expressed concerns with the injustice of the situation or frustrations with management for forcing them into the game. The rest of the team played in South Carolina, and no one said a word to him about it.
1955 photo by Jack Chandlers depicting game 6 of the 1955 NBA finals between the Syracuse Nats and the Fort Wayne Pistons. Identifiable Nats from L to R: in the white uniforms are Dick Farley (#12), Earl Lloyd (#11) and Johnny Kerr (#10). The 24-second shot clock can be seen on the sidelines in one of its first uses in a game.
Lloyd’s role on the team was primarily a defensive specialist and an enforcer. He is seen here "boxing out," while going after a rebound, one of his main jobs on the team. Lloyd would be called on to guard the toughest players on opposing teams in order to give the Nats' main scoring star Dolph Schayes a better chance at scoring.
Lloyd had to guard incredible players like George Mikan whose dominance caused the free throw lane to be widened from 6 feet to 12 feet, and Bill Russel, the first Black NBA superstar. The physical nature of basketball allowed by the rules, combined with the kind of tough defense played by Lloyd allowed an opportunity for some of the racial insults and discrimination he faced to be payed back physically. Lloyd credits the equalizing nature of physical play within the sport as a factor in making integration in basketball easier than in baseball, where Jackie Robinson faced tremendous hatred with no way to physically fight back within the rules of baseball.
1959 photograph by Associated Press depicting from L to R: Tom Gola (#15), Johnny Kerr (#10) and Wilt Chamberlin (#13)
Wilt Chamberlain, pictured here jumping over the Nats' John Kerr, was another early Black superstar in the NBA. Chamberlain is often named as one of the best basketball players of all time. Chamberlain’s dominance inspired yet another rule change and further widening of the free throw lane. Chamberlain entered the NBA in 1959 after playing with the Harlem Globetrotters for a year. The Globetrotters, who still exist as a predominantly Black team known for their tricks and humor, were then a more serious exhibition team. The Globetrotters and other all-Black teams, like the New York Rens, would play all-white teams and often win. Wins like the Globetrotters' 1948 victory over the Minneapolis Lakers and star George Mikan helped dispel the myth of Black athletes' inferiority. The work of these exhibition teams meant that by the time Lloyd entered the league, the notion of a Black basketball player was not unheard of.