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November 10, 2008
“…Rosa sat so Dr. King could walk, and Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama is running so we can all fly…”
- Jay Z
The election of Barack Obama as the first African American President of the United States has sent shock waves across the world and elicits memories of some of the awe the NBA parlayed across the sports world decades ago when the color line was broken.
Chuck Cooper out of Duquesne University was the first black player to be drafted when he was selected by the Boston Celtics in the second round in 1950; but, it was Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton out of Xavier University here in New Orleans who signed the first NBA contract by a black player when he became a New York Knickerbocker. It was a third player, however, who actually broke the color line in the league. Earl Lloyd became the first African American to participate in an NBA game when he played for the Washington Capitols to start that season.
Although Lloyd’s debut followed Jackie Robinson’s historic entrance into major league baseball by four years, since then it has been the National Basketball Association at the forefront of promoting African Americans for major roles in their sport.
 
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1st African American General Manager: Wayne Embry, Milwaukee Bucks, 1972
1st African American Majority Owner: Bob Johnson, Charlotte Bobcats, 2002
So how does Barack Obama’s historic election actually connect with the 2008-2009 New Orleans Hornets?
There is an interesting Hornets sidebar to all of this. The team was in the right place at the right time in October when candidate Obama was holding a campaign rally at the Fairgrounds in Indianapolis. The Hornets just happened to be playing the Pacers that day (October 8th) and following their morning shoot around were invited to attend the rally. Afterward, many team members had a chance to actually meet the Presidential hopeful.
The confluence of the Association’s history-making decisions regarding African Americans and the more recent experiences by this Hornets team brings us to the reaction of a pair of Hornets players to the remarkable events of the past week.
All-star forward David West, who watched Tuesday’s election results with his parents in New Orleans, had this take on the meaning of Obama’s victory:
“I thought it was a great moment. I’m glad I was alive to witness and see it. It was a good step for the country to take with so many symbolic meanings.”
The 28-year-old Xavier (OH) University graduate says that meeting (the candidate) Obama during the team’s preseason visit to Indianapolis in October made election night even more meaningful to him.
“You know, that’s the first time I have ever met a President, so I was excited about that. But for him to be the first person of color to achieve, even get to the point where he was in October, was an accomplishment in itself. What he did was inspire people. I think for black people in this country there’s now a symbol of someone who used their mind as opposed to their physical prowess to achieve the greatest position you can achieve in the world.”
For center Tyson Chandler, watching history being made reminded him of someone very close to him.
“It was an incredible moment. My entire family and pretty much everyone I know is excited right now. Everyone felt like change was needed and we feel like hope and change has come. Barack Obama reminds me of my grandfather, who is very soft spoken, very wise, and when the team met him last month he came across to me as the same as very genuine and a family man. He felt like a man who really cared for what he was saying about every individual.”
Putting the Grant Park scene in perspective, with now President-elect Barack Obama speaking to throngs of supporters from across the world, Chandler says he was full of emotion.
“It was very emotional. I was sitting on the couch with my wife (Kimberley) and my daughter (Sacha) and my wife had tears rolling down her face when she saw Michele Obama walk out. I was sitting there very proud because I felt like the world is changing as we know it. (Barack Obama’s) speech, when he was talking about the woman who was 106 and the things she has seen in her time, I never thought I would see a black President and I have had a chance to see that in my life. There’s no telling what my daughter will see in her time. It’s a different world now.”
