For one, meeting this legend a humbling experience

Former UK assistant Sutton honoring NBA pioneer Sunday

Earl Lloyd broke NBA's color barrier 60 years ago today

Happy anniversary to an NBA pioneer

Earl Lloyd: In basketball, history's go-to guy

First Black NBA Player Honored 60 Years After Milestone

Feb. 16, 2005 - "Jackie Robinson, the man who broke Major League Baseball's color line, ranks as a national icon. Filmmaker Ken Burns goes so far as to compare Robinson to Thomas Jefferson.

Earl Lloyd, the first African-American to play in the National Basketball Association, ranks as a largely overlooked pioneer. That's not right.

Lloyd forged a path that is now profitably traveled by the NBA's legion of African-American stars. He walked a path that has since been traveled by Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Dave Bing, Michael Jordan and, now, by LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire." - David Ramsey

With sixty years having passed since Lloyd made his NBA debut, Tennessee Tech's men's basketball head coach Mike Sutton and Dr. Robert Owens will host a celebration on the anniversary of Lloyd's first professional game on October 31, 2010, from 3-5 p.m. in the Hooper Eblen Center at Tennessee Tech University.

"It is with gratitude and pleasure that we recognize this historic occasion..."

A graduate of West Virginia State University, Earl Francis Lloyd started his professional career with the Washington Capitols in 1950, later spending six years with the Syracuse Nationals (1952-58) and two more with the Detroit Pistons (1958-60).

For comprehensive career statistics, facts and general information about Lloyd, please refer to the following booklet prepared by WVSU.

West Virginia State University salutes... Earl Lloyd