THERE have been a lot of significant developments in the National Basketball Association (NBA) since its inception in 1946 as the Basketball Association of America.
Among them were a couple of earth-shaking moves that occurred on October 30 and 31.
It was on October 30, 1954 that the NBA instituted a major rules change that would radically revolutionize the world of professional basketball.
That rule was the 24-second shot clock and the man credited for its creation was Danny Biasone.
Four years before that, on October 31, 1950, Earl Francis Lloyd of the Washington Capitols became the first African-American ever to suit up in the NBA when the 6-foot-5 West Virginia State College product took the floor against the Rochester Royals (the forerunners of the Sacramento Kings).
Months earlier, on April 25, 1950, the Boston Celtics broke the NBA’s color barrier by selecting Charles (Chuck) Cooper in the second round of the 1950 draft.
The 6-foot-5 Cooper was an All-American from Duquesne University and had played with the comical and all-black Harlem Globetrotters.
Following the Celtics’ lead, the Capitols grabbed Lloyd in the ninth round.
A day after the college draft, Abe Saperstein, the “white” owner of the Globetrotters, reportedly notified the NBA that he won’t take his popular team into Boston or Washington again.
For the first time, the Trotters needed to compete for black talent now that Cooper and Lloyd were drafted for the NBA.
Soon thereafter, the team also lost Nathaniel (Sweetwater) Clifton to the New York Knickerbockers.
On May 24, 1950, the Knicks purchased the contract of the 6-foot-6 Clifton, a product of Xavier University in Louisiana, from the Trotters for $12,500.
In effect, Clifton obtained free-agent status then became the first African-American to sign an NBA contract with the Knicks in September 1950.
Clifton, who got his nickname because of his love for soft drinks, was paid $7,500 for the 1950-51 season.
A fourth black player, 6-foot-6 Henry (Hank) DeZonie, joined the NBA later during the 1950-51 campaign, but he appeared in just five games with the Tri-Cities Blackhawks.
Cooper, the NBA’s first African-American draftee, contributed seven points in his league debut on November 1, 1950, a 107-84 loss by the Celtics to the Fort Wayne (now Detroit) Pistons at Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The rub of the NBA schedule, however, made Cooper only the second non-white to play in an official NBA game – or 24 hours after Lloyd, whose Capitols opened their schedule one day earlier, became the first.
When the history-making Lloyd entered training camp that fall, it was the first time that he had ever interacted with whites.