In 1950, Cooper, a Pittsburgh resident and Duquesne University graduate became the first African-American selected in the NBA Draft.
Chuck Cooper Classic Tips Off Tomorrow
Duquesne honors Chuck Cooper, among first blacks in NBA, by staging inaugural Chuck Cooper Classic, a hoops doubleheader featuring HBCU teams. How cool is that?
Though news coverage of the NBA’s upcoming racial integration was limited, there was enough to get a glimpse of what the milestone meant at the time.