Race in Sports

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and Earl Lloyd. Nat �Sweetwater� Clifton was the first African American player to ever sign a contract with an NBA team. He signed with the New York Knicks. Earl Lloyd was the first African American player to ever play in an NBA game. This was because his Washington team opened up with the first game of the season before the other teams. Chuck Cooper was the first African American player to ever be drafted. He was drafted by the Boston Celtics. With that being stated, I personally believe that Chuck Cooper is the person who is responsible for breaking the color barrier for African Americans in the NBA. Although he was not the first to play in the NBA, he was the first to be drafted by an NBA team which I feel gives him the right of being in the NBA first. Cooper didn�t have a stand out career but he performed well for himself. He played four years with the Celtics, and eventually was traded to the Milwaukee Hawks before ending his career with the Ft. Wayne Pistons. During his ...

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league in rushing with just over 800 yards on 140 carries, averaging just under a dozen carries a game (Race). Motley turned into a scout for the Browns after he retired but soon realized he wanted to become a coach. But at that time racism prevented all African Americans from becoming a coach; therefore, he could not per sure his career in coaching. In the late sixty�s, Motley was voted into the Football Hall of Fame making him more well known. Just like the NBA, there was a period of time where blacks were not allowed to play sports professionally. Today in the NFL, over sixty-five percent of the players are African Americans, thirty-one percent are white and two percent are Asian ...

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