The Sixers History Podcast ~ Breaking Barriers

who has three notable first when it comes to the NBA. So, in nineteen fifty Earl Lloyd was the first African American to play in an NBA game. In nineteen fifty five, he was the first black player to win an NBA title, alongside his black teammate Jim Tucker. So they did it together. And in nineteen fifty nine he became the first black assistant coach in NBA history. So the conversation with Sean will be I think it's really fantastic because Sean knows

so much about Earl because he co authored Earl's biography, Moonfixer. Now, fortunately Earl did to pass away a few years ago, in twenty fifteen, So we would love to talk with him, but he's gone. But Sean is the next best person to speak with about Earl's life and career, as I mentioned,

because he helped literally write the book on Earl. So I hope you enjoy the conversation we haven't store for you about Earl's breakthrough an NBA, the process of integration, well he was proud of on and off the court, and just many other things. So let's kick the conversation off with Sean Cursed telling us how he exactly meant

Earl Lloyd in the first place. I don't want to take it too far afield here, but as a kid, I grew up in New Buffalo, and as a kid, I kind of became aware that that straordinary stuff that uh you know, I was one of those guys who read a lot of sports books, and I knew that Syracuse that had been nants and I used the twenty fourth second clock had been invented in Syracuse, that that

the game had changed in Syracuse. So yeah, you know, the way life goes, I wind up coming there, you know, when I was in my late twenties, as a as a reporter, and I ended up becoming a sports columnist, and I've got a chance to start digging around on the old Syracuse Nationals, and this is God's on the truth.

I was. I was just curious, yeah, you know, just knowing the time, time to the team and everything else, I was curious as who the first, you know, the first African American player they had was and And so you know, this is the early nineties, and I don't have any internet access or anything like that. So so I go to the library, I pull out some books, and I find Earl and and and what was incredible Curtiss I had when I first saw that. I don't think there was any references in the books I saw

to him being the first. And I think I think I called the guy Bill Himmelman, who was NBA historian at the time, and it's Bill, you know, sort of a big time basketball historian, who who sort of told me Earl significance. I had no idea. So so he was Syracuse where where where you know, the first African American to play in the NBA had spent most of his career. No one had any clue, so so, um, you know, it became sort of a mission to track

him down and speak to him. And my most what I remember the first time I called him in nearly nineties was just his humility that he kind of that he kind of shrugged it off, you know, and it did what he would do for as long as I knew him, which was immediately to start talking about how you know, there were so many other people that he said would deserve the credit, whether it was you know Sweetwater, or whether it was Chuck Cooper, or whether it was

a Jackie or whoever it was. He that was the earl full demeanor throughout the through the decade that I knew him. Now, the reason why Earl might say some of those guyses are of credit is because Chuck Cooper, Nat Sweetwater, Clifton, and hankd His zone where three other black players that debuted NBA the same year that Earl did. It just so happened to Earl by the schedule, was the first one to actually play in a game. It

wasn't a one man affair. It was four guys at the same time, kind of breaking a barrier in the NBA. But now Sean tells us, you know, how exactly he went from just you know, kind of badroom Earl Lloyd, trying to get to know him, to actually helping demand write his autobiography. So so in the nineties I just repeatedly kept calling him, whether I was writing about the Naps, and then just in terms of you know, in larger

social cultural political issues came up with sports. He was just so unbelievably fockful and and I kept reaching out to him. So we talked a lot to the point where you know, we just started, you know, but at this time we have still only I think he came to Searci for the first time in like nineteen ninety nine or two thousand. They they may have hunted him.

There were only a few of the MANswers still alive at that time, and I think they brought him back for some sort of anniversary game or where they gave him some Circle awards. So I finally met him, and during this time, during these conversations, at some point he said to me, you know that at some point I should do a book. And then my wife and kids are telling me I should do a book that would you be interested in working at it with me? And

I said, absolutely, you tell me when. And the thing is so, so he said, point blank, I'm not reading it. Go on to it, and you know, I didn't push him, you know, and I guess it would have been two thousand and six maybe maybe, yeah, I must meat when the book came out in O eight, so probably early two thousand and six. Calls in one day and says, I'm good to goal and and in hindsight, looking back on it, I think maybe for the first time he felt a flash immortality, you know, and and uh sort

of wanted to sort of wanted to do it. But the process itself was pretty interesting. What he chose, what he wanted, what he wanted to do was I think very specific to who he was as a person, to the human being. You know. Since Sean said that, you know, the process was interesting, I just went on and poked him, you know, and asked, you know, what exactly did I all want to focus on in the book that well, here's the thing that I thought was most powerful, and

did you see it? It's not a long book, you know, he did not. He really outside of outside and sort of the the you know, sort of the structural framework of his basketball career, he was not particularly interested in talking about basketball I got, you know, the powerful feeling. And I think he would have said this, and it was a more sort of a testament to the America that he grew up in and and the way he saw his role in that America, and then the game

and and beyond all else. Is concerned about about kids, you know, particular particularly African American kids coming up now, and and that you can play it play a great story. He so, so I go down, I go down to a Tennessee. It's that a week with him or so after, right towards the end of the book, and he just

went through every page, went through every sentence. He and Charlie and his wife said at the table and just went through everything, and he wacked a lot of stuff, including at one point and uh, he'd really talked a lot about about who he considered the greatest players he's ever played against, and and sort of sort of is both emotional and and and and uh sort of an all star came to he saw it over the years

he played. And he didn't want it in the book because he said that he did not want the impression. He did not want to leave. He didn't a lot of people saying arguing about whether he was right or whether he was wrong. He didn't want that to get the impression in the book, and so he winned. You know,

he made it smaller and smaller. But what I'd been thinking about, and it's so amazing that you would call me at this time, is that I think, with events the last couple of years, I just I mean, some of the stuffs he said and the stuff that stays with me most powerfully, I think he was prophetic. And you know, I mean, he's just a really wise guy who I think understood human nature and understood the landscape, and I think he would not be surprised by a lot of the way things are unfolded in a lot

of words. Now, this is where things got a little interesting, because I did ask Sean what was Earl most proud of when he came to his basketball career. You'll you'll hear the answer, but the reply really does show you some of the some of the I guess, the underlying racial politics of the era, how black players were retreated in certain scenarios versus other ones, at certain moments versus other moments, how their skills were valued at that point

back in early in mid nineteen fifties. I honestly think the greatest pride he felt about basketball slam Thunk was

West Virginia State. I think it was he was on there at that team they had I cantmem Ward was a you know, thirty something game winning streak, and uh, you know, there was there was no informal ranking at the time, but hey, I think that some of the papers in the black press kind of the kind of raided national champions and that that his sophomore year they were they were national champions, and there was serious talk of them being invited to the n i T that

was squashed because Kentucky was going and then they figured her up would never let a yeah you know, I

never let an all black team in there. But but Earle, I think Earle is the way he felt about that team and the way he felt about his role on that team and in the role he played where he was he was more much more of a scorer in college, and I think it was a second leading scorer on that team, and and uh, you know, loved his coach and just had such a feeling for that school as a place that that sort of changed his outlook on

the world. His greatest pride was in that basketball team, and then the idea of that history had totally overwhelmed them, I think. And this was a guy who he just for everything he went, so he never evoked bitterness. But but I think he thought pretty powerfully that, um, you know, one of the most powerful things he used to talk about in the early days in basketball, he was seeing as a labor that that he was you know, he

was under the hole. He was considered a he was there to rebound, he was there to play defense, and that um, you know, I mean there was that haunting line where he said they did not have a play for me. That when he played in Syracuse he was basically written out at the offense unless he got an

offensive rebound, you know. And and so I think in some ways his basketball career is frustrating for him is as well as he did and as much as he was an important component on you know, a team that made the playoffs every year and then once to the finals twice while he was there, and won a championship, you know. Um, But but I really believe that. And I saw him when he went back to West Virginia State and his sense of home and his passion about the place never abated. I mean, they've got a statue

of him there, you know. So we continued the conversation about the just the difficulties and just the issues to overcome with integration in basketball. So we started off actually by first talking about Earl becoming an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons, and that made Earl the first black assistant in the NBA and actually probably in all of

major professional sports NHL, NFL, MLB, NBA. Yeah, I think I'm safe to say he was the first black assistant coach given the state of those other leagues at the time. But yeah, we chat about his time with the Pistons as an assistant coach, and then get back into some

of the just really the process. I mean I'm stressing that word, not just as a joke with the current sixers, but really we sit down and think about it historically, the process and just the day to day difficulties and issues with to integrate what was previously in all white space with now some black players in the nineteen fifties. Yeah, Dick McGuire hired him and and and um, the thing that I think he felt the proudest about that was his favorite story about that was was I think they

were playing they were playing against the Warriors. I can't remember if they were in San Francisco or at that point or not, but they were playing against the Warriors, and that a fan came up to him, and a fan came up to him and said, hey, you must be hurt, right because you were sitting on the you know,

he's on the beach and jacket and tie. Yeah, you know, and uh, um, you know, I know, my animal coach, you know, and then and uh but what he he McGuire remained close, you know, you know, to the end, and and what he always said about McGuire was what impressed him the most is that he felt there was nothing in it that was anything about breaking arriers or anything. You just saw McGuire thought you'd be great coach, and that's why he brought him in. And that's where he

was proudised them about that. But yeah, I don't think there's any questions when you think about that. I don't want to say this categorically, I don't remember, but he was certainly in all its professional sports. That's unbelievably early right to year I was born, you know, So we were continuing talking, me and Sean, and I asked him about how did Earl personally view his influence on integration

and in black players in the NBA. And Sean just really, as you hear him say, flipped the question on his head as we concluded our phone chat, this kind of

flips your question out its head. But I think one of the things that that's most powerful is the way other players at the time, whether it's Russell, whether it's Oskar, or whether it's whether it's Jim talked, or whether it's all these guys, the way they saw him and understood his significance of the al adults had that great court where he said he saw him the bed for all

of us. You know, I think you know I had that that one unbelievable story about about the capitals where he said the day he walked into the locker room there and that and that you know with Basketball League Baseball, he's walking across campus and and uh, one of the other students heels to the Earl I heard the name of the radio, and uh that he had no clue he was drafted. And he goes into talk to his coach and they kind of talk about it, and the coach is like, you know, give it a shot. Why not?

And and I think it was a ninth round draft pick. And um goes into camp and as impressive. But but that moment that he talks about that he walks into the locker room and it is all white, and he said it is the first time in his life that that he had a real conversation that wasn't that wasn't across a desk or across that Yeah, you know, a

real conversation with a white person. And and and and he's in that situation and um, every everything he gassed him that day that I love the story about Bill Sharman, you know, volunteers to give him a ride, and that that establishes a friendship again that that lasts until the two of them die, you know, and and uh, but but I think I think that he I don't think there's one of the things that that I thought was so wild was that you know, soul so Jackie went

to that whole thing where you know, branch Rickey talks to him and says, no matter how much reason you have, no matter how much cause you've had, you can't fight back at first because if anything goes wrong, if anything

goes wrong, it's all going to go away. And and that that in the nineteen forty eight, I believe um in the old NBL top Gates and Mouline are playing in Syracuse and him Pop, who is, you know, probably the best player in the league, is getting a badgered all game and then getting pushed around and finally get Filing's angry and throws a punch late in the game.

And you know this Dand's empty and the Post Standard, the search paper called it a race riot, and all of a sudden, other African Americans out of the game, boom, you know, and and and that doesn't change until Earl comes back. So so despite the fact that role, you know, it would diminish his own role, he knew and understood

what was on his shoulders. You know, there's a that that he used to talk about, that that he really saw that he had to dress exactly right, and and that had to carry himself exactly right, and and and he had to sort of go to this level of ethic and and and and character that most players did not.

But but one thing, one thing that I did used to love that he used to talk about was he said that, uh, in baseball, you know, Jackie was isolated, that that it was it was impossible to retaliate baseball without seeing it, and that that in basketball, if somebody gave him a hard time, he could retaliate in ways that no one saw, that that there were a way if you know that, as he used to say that I could set up kick just right, and and uh

that would make my point. But but um, you know, he also used to talk about that that he felt like there was a higher level of education in basketball, more guys have gone to college, and that and that, um, there was a certain benefit of that, and and um, that there had been some integration in basketball throughout the

forties where there had basically been zero in baseball. But still, I think, I think in the in the end, um, for all his honesty, the simple truth is that the guy took this unbelievable weight on his shoulders right and and handled it with this kind of greats and dignity and mentor younger players, and and at this critical moment in American history, Um, um, you know, transcended the times, right,

broke those barriers. I mean, you know, I know, I'm I'm you know I'm hopelessly in the bucket for um, but I think you was a great and important American, all right. So that brings us to the end. To the close of another episode of Sixer's History, the podcast, like to express our gratitude and thanks to Sean Cursed for taking time out on his vacation so that man

really wants to talk about Earl Lloyd. He was on vacation and had no problem getting on the phone with me, So I'd like to thank him doubly for taking time out of his hard earned vacation to talk about Earl Lloyd, his good friend at Basketball Hall of Famer. But as Sean said at the end, there really a great American. I think if you get the chance, buy the book

or get it from your library. It's called Moonfixer. But thank you' all for listening to the podcast again to get a little hint of what Earl was all about.