On August 3, 1949, after a damaging three-year battle to win
both players and fans, the rival Basketball Association of
America (BAA) and National Basketball League (NBL) 
merged to form the National Basketball Association (NBA).

On May 16, 1980, Los Angeles Lakers point guard Earvin
“Magic” Johnson stepped in for injured center Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar and scores 42 points, leading the Lakers
to a four games-to-two series win over the Philadelphia
76ers for their first championship since 1972.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. will be 66 on August 14th.

On April 25, 1950, the Boston Celtics made Chuck
Cooper an All-American forward from Duquesne
University, the first African American picked in
the NBA draft.      

     
With the selection, the first pick in the second round,
Cooper breaks the NBA’s color barrier and changes
the league for the better. Cooper died of cancer on 
February 5, 1984,

Cooper was inducted into the Naismith Memorial
Basketball Hall of Fame on September 9, 2019.

Charles Henry Cooper (September 29, 1926 – February 5, 1984)    
    
      

Basketball giant Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dominated the NBA in the
1970s and ’80s with his signature sky hook. Led the L.A. Lakers
to five championships. He’s 78 years old today.

              
MIKE  GRACIA    

   
Douglas MacArthur (26 January 1880 – 5 April 1964)

MacArthur died in Walter Reed Army Medical Center after
surgery on 5 April 1964, of primary biliary cholangitis at
age 84.