Earl Lloyd.

Basketball pioneer Earl Lloyd, the first African American to play in the National Basketball Association, says he’s “in a reminiscing stage” and “extremely retired.”

Maybe that’s why I was able to catch up with him recently for a fascinating telephone interview, which we bring to you now, below.

Lloyd broke the N.B.A.’s color barrier in 1950 along with Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton and Chuck Cooper, but of the three he was the first to actually play. Lloyd joined the Washington Capitols, Clifton joined the New York Knicks, and Cooper joined the Celtics.

Earl Lloyd's new book.

Lloyd’s extremely retired status certainly helps explains why he’s written a new book — Moonfixer: The Basketball Journey of Earl Lloyd — published earlier this year by the Syracuse University Press.

Moonfixer is a wonderful, colorful, and poignant book, with a foreword by basketball legend and Hall of Fame member Dave Bing, who is now the Mayor of Detroit, Michigan.

In our interview, Lloyd talks about his book and what made him write it now, as well as who should read it and why.

Very interestingly, he explains clearly why he feels that, despite all of the downsides, the Jim Crow era of segregation also had an upside.

Lloyd talks about the keys to his success, as well as what he sees as missing in today’s society, in particular among America’s youth, and what we could do to address that.

He also reveals who were his basketball heroes; specifically, which New York Rens and Washington Bears players were his favorite.

The interview is fun. Check it out.

I also recommend the book, if you want to get an inside look into what made him tick back then as a pioneer, and what keeps him going today.