NBA Trailblazer Honored with Hoops Tournament

Dec. 6 -- The Palumbo Center, located in Pittsburgh, PA, was the setting on Saturday for the inaugural Chuck Cooper Classic to honor the late former Duquesne star. Cooper was the first black player drafted by an NBA team.

Cooper, a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Westinghouse High School, began his college playing career at then-NAIA West Virginia State before transferring to Duquesne.

Cooper (Boston Celtics), Lloyd (Washington Capitols) and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton (New York Knicks) were black players entering the NBA in the same year. Cooper was the first to be drafted, but Lloyd's Capitols played their first game Oct. 31, 1950, one day ahead of Cooper's Celtics and four days before Clifton's Knicks. Cooper is among 32 1,000-point scorers at Duquesne, finishing at exactly 1,000.

Michael Jordan-Bulls DVDs carries Jordan complete game DVDs, such as his 69-point game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, his 55-point "double-nickel" game vs. the Knicks in Madison Square Garden, and his 59-point masterpiece against the Pistons, among many others.