Earl Francis Lloyd Statue to be unveiled Saturday at Alexandria African American Hall of Fame

Earl Lloyd, the first Black man to play in the National Basketball Association, will be honored on Saturday when his statue will be unveiled at the Alexandria African American Hall of Fame at  Charles Houston Recreation Center.

The City Council approved the gift from Lloyd’s wife, Charlita Lloyd, last summer. The statue, which is three feet wide, nine feet long and six feet tall, is exactly like the statue of Lloyd dedicated at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2003.

Lloyd, who graduated from Parker-Gray High School, was an All-American athlete at West Virginia State University, and on October 31, 1950, at the age of 21 was the first Black player to play in an NBA game as a member of the Washington Capitols. After seven games, Lloyd was drafted into the U.S. Army to serve in the Korean War, and then went back to professional basketball in 1952. He would play more than 560 games, and he won an NBA championship five years later. He was later a scout and coach for the Detroit Pistons. Lloyd passed away in 2015.

Lat year, the city also approved a request to name the 1000 block of Montgomery Street in Old Town after Lloyd.

The event will be held at 1 p.m. and streamed live online. It is closed to the public.