Chuck Cooper (basketball)

Charles Henry Chuck Cooper was an American professional basketball player. He and two others, Nat Sweetwater Clifton and Earl Lloyd, became the first African American players in the NBA in 1950. Cooper was also the first AfricanAmerican to be drafted by an NBA team, as the second pick of the second round by the Boston Celtics.

Cooper was born and died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Daniel and Emma Cooper, Daniel was a mailman, and Emma was a schoolteacher. He attended Pittsburghs Westinghouse High School and graduated in 1944 . For his senior year, he averaged more thanpoints per game, and was an AllCity first team center. He then attended and played a semester basketball for West Virginia State College before being drafted to serve in the United States Navy in the final stages of World War II. Following his service, he enrolled at Duquesne University where he was an AllAmerican, starting all four years, and setting the schoolrecord for total points with 990 in four seasons. During his time Duquesne University had a 7819 record, and was invited to the then prestigious National Invitation Tournament twice. He was a captain for the 194950 team, which was the first team from that university to be nationally ranked all season, finishing with a 236 record and ranked 6th nationally. He was the

Source: Wikipedia