INSTITUTE, W.Va. (AP) - West Virginia State University is honoring Earl Lloyd, the first African-American to play in an NBA game.
The university will name a street on campus after Lloyd, who played professionally in the 1950s. The Nov. 9 ceremony will take 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. The event is open to the public.
Lloyd died in 2015. 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.
Lloyd played at what was then called West Virginia State College in in the late 1940s.
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