Robert E. Lloyd (born October 5, 1945) is an American former professional basketball player in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading to four A ...

(ABA), even though he was drafted by the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United ...

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

in the 7th round of the

1967 NBA draft The 1967 NBA draft was the 21st annual draft of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The draft was held on May 3 and 4, 1967 before the 1967–68 season. In this draft, 12 NBA teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball pl ...

. Lloyd began his ABA career with the

New Jersey Americans New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

; the team became the

New York Nets New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

in 1968 (and is now the NBA's

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. T ...

). In two ABA seasons, Lloyd scored 1,127 points in his career, good for a 9.0 points per game average. At

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and wa ...

, Lloyd became the Scarlet Knights' first ever First Team All-American. He still holds the school record for career scoring average (26.5 ppg), and as a senior in 1966–67 he led

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

percentage (.921), making 255-of-277 attempts. Also in that season, Lloyd coupled with fellow

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

and college roommate

Jim Valvano James Thomas Anthony Valvano (March 10, 1946 – April 28, 1993), nicknamed Jimmy V, was an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster. Valvano had a successful coaching career with multiple schools, most notably at North Carolin ...

to lead Rutgers to their first-ever postseason basketball tournament, the 1967 National Invitation Tournament, where they defeated

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25, ...

65–60 to reach the Final Four of the tournament. They defeated

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an ...

93–76 in the third place game, after losing to Walt Frazier's Southern Illinois Salukis. In 1987, Lloyd became the first Rutgers athlete to have his jersey retired. After basketball, Lloyd went on to become a successful businessman. He was the president and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

of Data East, Incorporated before becoming the chairman and CEO of Mindscape, a publisher of consumer

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

. Since 1994, he has served as chairman of the board for The V Foundation For Cancer Research, which was started by his friend and teammate Jim Valvano as he was battling cancer which ultimately claimed his life. Lloyd has helped raise over $70 million since that time. Today, Lloyd is retired besides his work at The V Foundation and resides in

Los Altos Hills, California Los Altos Hills (; ''Los Altos'', Spanish for "The Heights") is an incorporated town in Santa Clara County, California, United States. The population was 8,489 at the 2020 census. The town is known for its affluence and expensive residential ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, Bob 1946 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from New Jersey Basketball players from Pennsylvania Detroit Pistons draft picks New Jersey Americans players New York Nets players People from Los Altos Hills, California People from Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania Point guards Rutgers Scarlet Knights men's basketball players Sportspeople from Delaware County, Pennsylvania