West Virginia State University Honors Earl Lloyd With the Naming of a Street

Today the University honored basketball legend Earl Lloyd with the naming of a street on campus. The new "Earl Lloyd Way" is located between the Convocation Center and tennis courts. pic.twitter.com/VQOHCtxD6n

— WV State University (@WVStateU) November 9, 2018

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INSTITUTE, West Virginia -- West Virginia State University (WVSU) honored Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member and WVSU basketball legend Earl Lloyd with the naming of a street on campus in his honor during a ceremony on Friday, Nov. 9.

The ceremony took place in the lobby of the D. Stephen and Diane H. Walker Convocation Center, where a statue honoring Lloyd stands. The new Earl Lloyd Way is located between the Convocation Center and the University’s tennis courts and was formerly known as Athletics Drive.

Lloyd, the first African-American to play in a NBA game, passed away Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015. He was a trailblazer in the world of professional basketball. In 1950, with the Washington Capitols, he was the first African-American to play in an NBA game. Later, with the Syracuse Nationals, he became the first African-American player to win an NBA championship. Following his playing days, with the Detroit Pistons, he was the first African-American to be named an assistant coach and the first to be named a bench coach.

A native of Alexandria, Virginia, Lloyd began playing basketball at Parker-Gray High School before coming to what was then West Virginia State College in 1947. During his time playing for State, the Yellow Jackets won two Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Conference and Tournament Championships in 1948 and 1949 where they finished in second place. Lloyd was named All-Conference for three years, from 1948 to 1950, and named All-American by the Pittsburgh Courier for 1949 and 1950.

After his college playing days, Lloyd was taken in the NBA draft in the ninth round by the Washington Capitols. On Oct. 31, 1950, Lloyd became the first African-American to play in an NBA game when he took the court against the Rochester Royals. Although the Royals defeated the Capitols 78-70, Lloyd scored 6 points in what would go down as an historic night.

Lloyd spent only seven games with the Capitols before leaving for a two-year stint in the U.S. Army. In 1952 he returned to the NBA to play for the Syracuse Nationals.

Nicknamed “The Big Cat,” Lloyd achieved the best performance of his career in the 1954-55 season when he scored 731 points and helped the Nationals to the Eastern Division Championship. This shored up Lloyd as the first African-American to win an NBA title. In 1958 Lloyd was traded to the Detroit Pistons where he remained until his retirement as a player from professional basketball in 1960 at the age of 32.


Kevin Lloyd (son of Earl Lloyd) thanks all parties involved at the unveiling of Earl Lloyd Way at his father's Alma Mater, West Virginia State University.
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After retirement, Lloyd remained with the Pistons as a scout, and is credited with discovering basketball talents Willis Reed, Earl Monroe, Dave Bing, Ray Scott and Wally Jones.

In 1968 Lloyd broke another color barrier when he was named the first African-American assistant coach in the league, with the Detroit Pistons. Three years later he became the second African-American to be named a head coach of a NBA team.

Lloyd was inducted into the national Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003. He has also been honored with induction into the West Virginia State University Hall of Fame, the state of Virginia Athletic Hall of Fame, the state of West Virginia Athletic Hall of Fame, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame, the Black College Alumni Hall of Fame and the Parker-Gray High School Hall of Fame.

Lloyd lived in Detroit for 40 years and at the time of his death lived in Crossville, Tenn., with his wife, Charlita.



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West Virginia State University is a public, land grant, historically black university, which has evolved into a fully accessible, racially integrated, and multi-generational institution, located in Institute, W.Va. As a “living laboratory of human relations,” the university is a community of students, staff, and faculty committed to academic growth, service, and preservation of the racial and cultural diversity of the institution. Its mission is to meet the higher education and economic development needs of the state and region through innovative teaching and applied research.