Earl Lloyd, the first African American to play in the National Basketball Association, will be receiving a state historical marker at the site of his childhood home in Alexandria on Saturday.
Lloyd was born in Alexandria in 1928 and grew up at 1020 Montgomery St., where the marker will be raised. Lloyd played basketball at the city’s all-African American high school, Parker-Gray, earning All-South Atlantic Conference honors three times and All-State Virginia Interscholastic Conference honors two times.
In 1946, he earned a scholarship to play at West Virginia State, where he helped his team to two Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association Championships. Lloyd was drafted by the Washington Capitols after he graduated in 1950, making him one of four African American players drafted into the NBA that year.