Earl Lloyd
Ever wonder who was the first
black NBA player? Probably not,
because until They Cleared the Lane
was written, you could not have
known that NBA owners secretly
banned black athletes for four
years until Earl Lloyd debuted
on Halloween Night, 1950.
Want a sneak peek at this
history-revealing book?
Click here to download
an excerpt. After that,
you’ll crave more.
Buy It Now
Read the fascinating stories of Lloyd, the first black NBA draft pick Chuck Cooper, early superstars like Maurice Stokes, Wilt Chamberlain and Elgin Baylor, and great players such as Cleo Hill kept out of the NBA by a racial quota.
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About the Book Through in-depth interviews with players, their families, coaches, teammates, and league officials, Ron Thomas tells the largely untold story of what basketball was really like for the first black NBA players after the owners' secret ban against them was broken in 1950. He focuses on sage-like Hall of Famer Earl Lloyd, the first black athlete to play in an NBA game; the emotionally torn Chuck Cooper, proud to be the first black NBA player drafted but frustrated by the race-based limitations of the era; the league's first black coaches; and early superstars such as the tragic Maurice Stokes and legendary Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson. They Cleared the Lane is both informative and entertaining, full of anecdotes and little-known history. Not all the stories have happy endings, which only emphasizes how much we have gained from these pioneer athletes' accomplishments and sacrifices. |