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Earl Lloyd

Earl Lloyd, American basketball player and coach (died 2015)

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Born
April 3, 1928
Died
February 26, 2015
Zodiac sign
Aries
Birth year
1928

About Earl Lloyd

Earl Francis Lloyd was an American professional basketball player and coach. He was the first African American player to play a game in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 1947–48, West Virginia State was the only undefeated team in the United States, with a 30–0 record. In 1971, Lloyd was hired by the Detroit Pistons as head coach, becoming the first non-playing black head coach of the NBA and fourth overall black head coach in NBA history. It was because of the order in which the team's season openers fell that Lloyd was the first to actually play in a game in the NBA, scoring six points on Halloween night. Lloyd and Jim Tucker became the first African Americans to play on an NBA championship team.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Earl Lloyd timeline

  1. In 1947–48, West Virginia State was the only undefeated team in the United States, with a 30–0 record.
  2. In 1971, Lloyd was hired by the Detroit Pistons as head coach, becoming the first non-playing black head coach of the NBA and fourth overall black head coach in NBA history.

The world when Earl Lloyd was born

Earl Lloyd was born in 1928. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1928

  • #1 song"Makin' Whoopee" – Eddie Cantor
  • Top movieSteamboat Willie (first Mickey Mouse)
  • Best-selling bookLady Chatterley's Lover – D.H. Lawrence

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentKnute Rockne's "Win one for the Gipper" speech
  • Top headlineHerbert Hoover elected president
  • Technology milestonePenicillin discovered by Alexander Fleming
  • Defining fadMickey Mouse mania
  • Notable inventionSliced bread
  • World population2.07 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderCalvin Coolidge
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population120.5M

1928 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Earl Lloyd's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19282026
Gas$0.21$3.45/gal
Average home$6,200$435,000
Average income$3,800$67,500
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.02$0.73
Population120.5M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, NBA, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.