Basketball has lost one of its legends
It may seem strange to any sports fans now when looking at US basketball but there was a time when the best sides on hardwood were mostly white.
This year the NBA will celebrate the 65th anniversary of the very first black man to take to the court but sadly the man who made that history has passed away.
Early Lloyd broke the NBA colour barrier in October of 1950 when he lined out for the Washington Capitals’. He was the first black player to feature in the NBA but his progressive franchise also included two other players called Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and Charles Cooper.
Llyod was known as the ‘Big Cat’ and also played with the Syracuse Nationals before ending his career with the Detroit Pistons in 1960.
He claimed an NBA title in 1955 and became the first black man,along with Syracuse teammate Jim Tucker, a play on a championship winning team.
He was also inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003 and this tribute from his old college West Virginia State University shows in what high regard he was held by all basketball fans
