April 25, 1950: Who was first?

CHICAGO - Most sports fans know that Jackie Robinson was the first black player to play in Major League Baseball. It's a pretty cut-and-dried answer - Robinson was the only black player until he proved he could succeed, then others soon followed him. For the NBA, the question of who was the first black player isn't so easily answered. In fact, it usually has to be followed by a follow-up question: What do you mean by "first"?

There are three ways to define who was the first black player in the NBA, and the three ways will give you three different answers.

1. Who was the first black player drafted by an NBA team?

That would be Chuck Cooper, who the Boston Celtics made the first pick of the second round on April 25, 1950. Cooper was an All-American from Duquesne in Pittsburgh and went on to a six-year career in the NBA. He was a fairly average player in his career - his career-high averages were 9 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game, all of which he got in his rookie season.

2. Who was the first black player to sign an NBA contract?

Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton gets this honor, when the New York Knicks signed him from the Harlem Globetrotters on, oddly enough, April 25, 1950. Clifton had played collegiately at West Virginia State. After fighting in Europe in World War II, Clifton joined all-black traveling basketball teams, including the Globetrotters, and he played baseball during the basketball offseason with Negro Leagues teams. His NBA numbers were similar to, if slightly better than, Cooper's, though Clifton lasted eight years.

3. Who was the first black player to play in an NBA game?

Earl Lloyd gets this honor, but only as a result of the schedule. Drafted by the Washington Capitols in the ninth round of the same draft as Cooper, Lloyd got the honor of being the first black player, on October 31, 1950, simply becuase the Capitols opened their season before the Celtics or Knicks did. The Capitols only played nine games that season before folding, and Lloyd spent two years in the Army before being picked up by the Syracuse Nats, which whom he and teammate Jim Tucker became the first black players to win an NBA title in 1956. Lloyd played nine years in the NBA, posting numbers similar to those of Clifton's and Cooper's.