THE FIRST TO DO IT

In 1950, three years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball, Earl Lloyd stepped onto an NBA basketball court and changed the game forever. During Lloyd’s 22-year NBA career, he became its first African American player, its first African American scout, and its first African American full time head coach. Through intimate conversations with family, childhood friends, and the legendary players whose lives he touched (including Oscar Robertson, Dave Bing, and Kawhi Leonard), THE FIRST TO DO IT chronicles the the experience of Lloyd and other early African American players against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement and explores the role of sports in the lasting legacy of desegregation today.