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NBA: Race pioneer Lloyd hailed as league 'patriarch'

By Jim SLATER

NBA players and officials on Friday hailed Earl Lloyd, the league's first African-American player, as a groundbreaking pioneer whose legacy will survive long after his death Thursday at age 86. Lloyd made his historic NBA debut on October 31, 1950, with the Washington Capitols and went on to play for the Syracuse Nationals and Detroit Pistons. He won an NBA crown with Syracuse in 1955 and coached Detroit in 1971-72. "The NBA family has lost one of its patriarchs," said NBA commissioner Adam Silver. "Earl Lloyd, the first African-American to play in an NBA game, was as inspirational as he was understated. He was known as a modest gentleman who played the game with skill, class, and pride. "His legacy survives in the league he helped integrate and the entire NBA family will strive to always honor his memory." Lloyd, inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003, played in parts of nine seasons as a small forward. He played in only seven games for the Capitols before they folded in January of 1951. He then joined the US Army before Syracuse signed him in 1952. "SAD DAY," tweeted Tony Parker, the French guard who has helped the defending champion San Antonio Spurs to four NBA titles. "Earl Lloyd was the first black player in NBA history. World lost a great man!" Eight-time NBA All-Star Vince Carter praised the pioneer on Twitter as well, saying: "RIP to Mr. Earl Lloyd you opened that ever so important door for all African American athletes. Thank You!!!! prayers up to your family." Lloyd earned special praise from Walt Frazier, a New York Knicks legend who led the team to two NBA crowns in the 1970s. "My condolences to the family of Earl Lloyd. He paved the way for so many of us," Frazier tweeted. "Thx for the memories and you will never be forgotten." Lloyd, nicknamed "Big Cat", often was compared to Major League Baseball racial barrier-breaker Jackie Robinson, whom Lloyd called his hero for shattering that sport's whites-only status in 1947. - Racist taunts inspired Lloyd - In a tribute to Lloyd on the website of the Philadelphia 76ers, the former Syracuse franchise that relocated in 1963, Lloyd recalled the 1955 NBA Finals when his Nationals played the then-Fort Wayne Pistons at Indianapolis, where racist fans taunted him verbally. "Those fans in Indianapolis, they yell stuff like 'Go back to Africa' and I'm telling you, you would often hear the N-word. That was commonplace," Lloyd recalled. "There were a lot of people who sat close to you who gave you the blues." As Robinson had before him, Lloyd took the abuse stoically and used it to inspire his efforts. "My philosophy was if they weren't calling you names, you weren't doing anything," Lloyd said. "If they were calling you names, you were hurting them." Lloyd and Syracuse teammate Jim Tucker became the first African-Americans to play on an NBA championship team after the Nationals best the Pistons 4-3 in the 1955 best-of-seven final. "Modest and willing to share his story with anyone when asked, Earl offered a vivid window into our nation's segregated past and personified change in this country," the National Basketball Retired Players Association said in a statement. "A truly historic figure in American history has passed and we will miss Earl Lloyd dearly." And while such icons as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James followed, it was Lloyd who paved the way. "When Earl stepped out on the court on that fateful date in 1950, this remarkable man rightfully earned his place in the historic civil rights movement and, more important, he opened the door to equality in America," said Brian Hemphill, the president at West Virginia State University, Lloyd's alma mater.