The National Basketball Association (NBA) recently celebrated its first Black draft picks, Chuck Cooper and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton. This tribute will be presented on stage during the 2025-26 season. This initiative recognizes the profound impact these athletes had on the sport, paving the way for future generations of players. This commemoration honors their contributions to the game of basketball and celebrates their incredible personal journeys of overcoming odds through perseverance and grit.
Chuck Cooper made history as the first African American player drafted by the Boston Celtics, selected with the 13th overall pick in the second round of the 1950 NBA Draft. He started his unlikely baseball to basketball journey by signing with the Celtics. In doing so, he became the first African American to don their uniform. Cooper’s impact clearly extended beyond his pioneering accomplishments. He was a key player on that team that won the first ever championship title with teammate Jim Tucker, another league trailblazer.
Cooper’s life was a tale of great achievements and deep personal struggles. He died too young from the ravages of liver cancer at 57 years of age in 1984. As most know, he did amazing things on and off the field. In 2019, he was posthumously inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in honor of his accomplishments. His legacy is living on as an inspiration. Chuck Cooper III is working with the NBA on making sure his father’s story is told, not just today, but for generations to come.
At the same time, Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton was blazing his own trailblazing path through basketball lore. In May of 1950, the New York Knicks took a revolutionary step by buying his contract from the Harlem Globetrotters. This move turned him into the first African American player to sign an NBA contract. Prior to his time with the Knicks, Clifton made a name for himself as part of the all-Black New York Rens and by playing with the Globetrotters. He cemented himself as an intimidating player.
Clifton’s eight spectacular seasons in the NBA. He averaged 10.9 points and 8.2 rebounds a game, and received an All-Star selection in 1957. After exiting the NBA in 1958, he turned his attention to baseball. He spent four years playing in the Negro Leagues for the Detroit Stars. His talent and success in multiple sports, from football to rugby to basketball, served to highlight his all-around athleticism and versatility.
The legacies of Cooper and Clifton are very much wrapped up in their personal stories that have lingering impacts to this day. Kevin Lloyd, whose father also played in the NBA and was honored by the Cleveland Cavaliers, found common ground with Chuck Cooper III and Jataun Robinson. Together, they became an unbreakable duo, both connected and defined by their dads’ extraordinary legacies. Collectively, they fought hard to make sure that the NBA acknowledges those contributions annually.
The new NBA season, which begins on October 30, will be dedicated to Cooper and Clifton. It will honor the fathers of Lloyd and Robinson. This award recognizes the incredible bravery and perseverance shown by these athletes. On top of their accomplishments on the court, they showed their strength off of it. Their stories illustrate the transformative power of sports and highlight how they broke through racial barriers during a challenging era.
In 2023, that story was retold in a biographical film called Sweetwater, tracing Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton’s emergence and impact on the game. The documentary balances out Clifton’s hardships and achievements. It raises his story to one of greater awareness, especially as it relates to his groundbreaking work as a trailblazer for Black athletes in professional basketball. Stories like these are essential in helping all of us understand the historical context that created the NBA as we know it today.
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