Celtics Stuff Live: W/Earl Lloyd! Sunday, Mar. 9th, 7:00-9:00 PM, EST.

Sat Mar 8 16:54:51 CST 2008

Our this week's guest is Hall of Fame, player and coach; Earl Lloyd.

While there is no "Jackie Robinson" of the NBA, partly because the  
NBA was just starting out and partly because three African American  
players entered the league in the same season, Mr. Lloyd was the  
first to play in a game; on Halloween, Oct. 31st., 1950.

We must thank friend of the show and regular guest, Mark Spears, for  
this opportunity.

Mark had a wonderful column on  Earl, published in the Boston Globe  
on Jan. 21st. In that article Lloyd gives thanks to the Celtics for  
opening the door to himself and the others to follow.
[quote]
     "I truly believe this, that if the Celtics did not draft Chuck  
[Cooper] in the second round, you could not tell me that the  
Washington Capitols in 1950 were going to make me the first black  
player to play in this league. No way . . . The Boston Celtics had a  
tremendous influence on my acceptance in the NBA," said Lloyd in a  
recent phone interview. [/quote]

Later this month, Lloyd  will be among those featured in an ESPN film  
entitled: "Black Magic." Here is a blurb from Fred Mitchell's March  
4th column in the Chicago Tribune.
[quote]
       On March 16, a powerful documentary titled "Black Magic" will  
be shown on ESPN, detailing the history of college basketball in  
America in conjunction with the Civil Rights Movement.

     Award-winning filmmaker Dan Klores ("The Boys of Second Street  
Park," "Viva Baseball," "Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story"),  
enlisted actor Samuel L. Jackson, jazz great Wynton Marsalis and New  
Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul to narrate the film. The  
commercial-free, two-part, four-hour film will be televised in prime  
time March 16 and 17 at 8 p.m.
[/quote]
   Things were different in this country in that era. Lloyd never had  
a white classmate from kindergarten through four years of college and  
the NBA was no picnic, as evidenced by this entry from Mark Spears  
column:

    [quote] Lloyd said fans in St. Louis, Baltimore, Fort Wayne,  
Ind., and Indianapolis were particularly hard on him. He was spit on,  
asked by fans to see his tail, and told to go back to Africa. Lloyd  
said he was rarely allowed to go into restaurants or hotels with his  
white teammates. While playing for Syracuse during the 1952-53  
season, he wasn't allowed to play at a preseason game at Wofford  
College in Spartanburg, S.C., because he was black. The Nationals  
still played and to this day it pains Lloyd that none of his  
teammates showed any remorse.
[/quote]
   If you have a question for our guest or the show you can call our  
toll free number (1.866.751.9649) anytime leading up to tip off on  
Sunday and leave us a voice mail to air live or you can send us an e- 
mail .

As always we will take your calls live during the show and monitor  
the chat wars in The Pit.
We hope you will join us.

Celticsstuff Live - The Ultimate, Toll Free, Call-In; Webcast, Talk  
Show & Blog.
Featuring: Jughead and JB and The Duke.
http://celticsBlog.com/ or http://celticsstufflive.com/