The first Black American players in the National Basketball Association all came into the League in 1950. The players were including Earl Francis Lloyd (Syracuse Nationals), Charles Henry Cooper (Boston Celtics), and Nathaniel Clifton (New York Knicks).

Lloyd, 6′ 6″ was born on April 3, 1928, in Alexandria, Virginia graduated from Parker-Gray High School in Alexandria in 1946. Then he enrolled West Virginia State University in 1946. While at school he was an All–American player he got his Bachelor of Science degree in health & physical education in 1950.  He was then drafted in the ninth round and on October 31, 1950, the 21-year-old became the first Black athlete to play in the NBA with the Washington Capitols. Lloyd played for nine seasons with the Syracuse Nationals (who later became the Philadelphia 76ers). In 1970, Lloyd would become the first full-time Black American head coach in the league when he coached the Detroit Pistons for a year.

Cooper, 6’ 5,” was born on September 29, 1926, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. After graduating from Westinghouse High School in Pittsburgh he went to West Virginia State University as well in 1944. However, he later transferred to Duquesne University in 1946, and in 1950 he signed with the Harlem Globetrotters. On April 25, 1950, he became the second Black American drafted into the NBA when the Boston Celtics drafted him with the 14th overall pick. Cooper made his professional debut on November 1, 1950, one day after Lloyd, against the Fort Wayne Pistons. He played four years with the Celtics, before he was traded to the Milwaukee Hawks. Cooper ended his career with the Ft. Wayne Pistons. He would later go on to earn a Master of Social Work from the University of Minnesota in 1960.

Nathaniel Clifton, 6’ 8,” was born Clifton Nathaniel on October 13, 1922, in England, Arkansas, and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He reversed his name during his senior year at DuSable High School in Chicago, graduating in 1940. From 1942 to 1943, he was a student at Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana and played only one season in college. In 1948 Clifton signed with the Harlem Globetrotters. Clifton became the third African American player to sign an NBA contract and made his New York Knicks debut on November 4, 1950, three days after Cooper. At age 34, Clifton was the oldest player in NBA history to be named a first-time All-Star. In 1958, Clifton was traded to the Detroit Pistons, and a year later he left the team. He later played for a startup pro team, the Harlem Magicians, and then spent several seasons with the still-popular Globetrotters and another startup, the Chicago Majors. After a knee injury in 1965, Clifton retired. And in 1978, he was inducted into the Black Athletes Hall of Fame.

On February 5, 1984, Charles Henry Cooper passed away in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on February 5, 1984, at the age of 58. Nathaniel Clifton died on August 31, 1990, in Chicago, Illinois. He was 67.  Earl Francis Lloyd was installed in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1993 and, a decade later, in 2003, inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Lloyd died on February 26, 2015, in Crossville, Tennessee at the age of 65. In 2019, Cooper was posthumously inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

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