Sean Kirst pens book about the NBA's first African-American player, Earl Lloyd

[Blue_Tires]

In 1950, Earl Lloyd became the first African-American to play in a National Basketball Association game. Post-Standard columnist Sean Kirst has co-written "Moonfixer: The Basketball Journey of Earl Lloyd" with the future Hall of Famer, who played six seasons with the Syracuse Nationals. Kirst spoke with Hart Seely.

What's Earl Lloyd doing these days?

He's 81 and travels constantly. He lives in Tennessee and acts like a 50-year-old.

How'd you two ever meet?

I called Earl the first time in 1991. I'd just become a sports columnist, and it gave me freedom to putter around with the (Syracuse) Nats. ... I learned that Earl was the first black guy to play in the NBA, and it just blew my doors off. ... He was one of three who signed that year: Nathaniel "Sweetwater" Clifton, Chuck Cooper and Earl. He always diminishes the importance of what he did, but the bottom line is this: On Halloween night 1950, he became the first black man to ever set foot in an NBA basketball game.

Why isn't Earl Lloyd a household name?

Well, I think basketball evolved differently. There had already been integrated
professional leagues. With baseball, Jackie Robinson faced a different situation. The game had been lily-white for 60 years. Still, I think Earl's significance is staggering, especially when you realize that the NBA is now about 80 percent African-American. He was the first.

How does he remember his time in Syracuse?

He has a real appreciation for the fans here. He feels the home-court advantage was outrageous, and it gave birth to what goes on now with Syracuse University basketball. But it also meant having to live in the 15th Ward, this tiny African-American neighborhood in the city. He tells stories about trying to rent apartments around town. He'd show up at the door, the owner would realize he's black, and all of a sudden, the place would be rented.

Those were the realities of Syracuse. Even in the 1950s, there were clubs and restaurants that blacks could not go into. The way he puts it is that Syracuse was a good place for him to be, but it had the same situations as everywhere else.

What did he think of the 15th Ward?

The incredible thing was that you could walk into a place on a weekday night in 1956 and maybe run into Jim Brown or Count Basie -- or all these incredible guys who had no other place to go. At the same time, Earl became close friends with Pee Wee Caldwell, a postal worker in Syracuse, a beautiful guy, also a hell of a basketball player. They still remain close.

http://blog.syracuse.com/cny/2010/02/incredible_journey_sean_kirst_pens_book_about_the_nbas_first_african-american_player_earl_lloyd.html