NBA honors the first three black men who break the color barrier of the league on the 75th anniversary to break

You have literally changed the game!

Seventy-five years ago, three pale black men's Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton, Chuck Cooper and Earl Lloyd– The face of professional basketball changed forever. In the 1950/51 season, they wrote the story as the first black player to officially take over the place in the National Basketball Association and pave the way for generations of athletes.

Now, as part of the 75th anniversary recognition of this pioneering NBA, the league and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) are closing together to honor this pioneers every year during the Black History Month. Black Enterprise Reports.

“I am pleased about the fact that we will honor the inheritance, the courage and determination of these pioneers and many players who have come after them,” said the NBPA President and New Orleans Pelicans Guard CJ McCollum.

“But it begins with them and how they have transformed the NBA and how they inspired players like me. They were facing discrimination with many extremely difficult challenges from racism. But they showed enormous determination to overcome these obstacles and still find a way to work at a high level,” added McCollum.

Every player first made historical. Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton was the first black player to sign an NBA contract after the New York Knicks acquired him from the Harlem Globetrotters in May 1950. Chuck Cooper was the first black player ever pulling in by an NBA team when the Boston Celtics selected him in the second round of the same year. And Earl LloydOn October 31, 1950, who was selected by the Washington Capitals in the ninth round by the Washington Capitals when he was the first black player to play the place in a regular season game.

Lloyd's effects did not stop here. With the Detroit Pistons he became one of the first black head coaches of the NBA and, along with Jim Tucker, was one of the first black players who won an NBA championship and claimed the title at Syracuse National in 1955.

In order to celebrate its lasting influence, the NBPA will publish a number of three tribute videos in which the life and legacy of Clifton, Cooper and Lloyd are highlighted on its social and digital platforms. The new annual recognition of the NBA increases the commitment of the league to recognize the players whose bravery and brilliance have designed the game.

Cover picture: NBA honors the first three black men to break the color barrier of the league on the 75th anniversary/(l to r) Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd and Nathaniel “Sweetwater” Clifton/Photo credit: NBAE/Getty Images/Slam