Black basketball pioneer Chuck Cooper, the first African-American drafted in NBA history, will be announced as an inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday in Minneapolis, a source told ESPN's The Undefeated.
Cooper was selected to the Hall of Fame by the special direct-elect Early African-American Pioneers Committee. The former Duquesne University star was the first African-American drafted in NBA history when the Boston Celtics selected him 13th overall on April 25, 1950.
Then-Celtics owner Walter Brown famously said he didn't care whether Cooper was "striped, plaid or polka dot," after he was drafted.