Celebrating key Black players, coaches and referees who helped ... First Black female referee: Violet Palmer made history as the NBA’s first female referee on Oct. 31, 1997, when she officiated ...

On May 24, 1950, Nat \"Sweetwater\" Clifton made history by signing with the New York Knicks, becoming the first Black player ...

Carrying the weight of history, these first Black NBA players entered arenas where many didn’t want them and still played at a high level. In a time of segregation, they proved that their ...

In February for Black History Month, USA TODAY Sports is ... Hall of Fame in 2003 and died in 2015. Two other Black players entered the NBA in 1950, the same year as Lloyd. One was Nat Clifton ...

The NBA has recently celebrated and acknowledged the 75th anniversary of the first three Black players to take the ... during Black History Month. "I am excited about the fact that we are going ...

And before that year, the NBA had never had a Black player. That all changed when the Celtics selected Chuck Cooper, an All-American out of Pittsburgh’s Duquesne, in the second round of that year’s ...

the first Black player coach in Bill Russell, the NBA’s first Black superstar in Bill Russell who was so outspoken throughout history – and is in all nine episodes. “You can trace that ...

“I want people to understand that there are plenty of other owners of NFL teams and NBA teams, and especially teams that have majority Black players ... s just the history of our country ...