Basketball History

       Basketball History 

        

The man who invented basketball is James Naismith. The sport was invented in 1891. He wrote the original basketball rule book, founded the University of Kansas basketball program. James Naismith was a Canadian physical education instructor who invented the game of basketball in 1891 while working at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith had been challenged to create a new game that could be played indoors in the cold Massachusetts winters to provide an “athletic distraction” to a disruptive group of students. With a two-week deadline, Dr. Naismith decided to invent a game of skill, finesse and accuracy, rather than one that relied on pure strength. Using a soccer ball, two peach baskets placed 10 feet up in the air, nine players on each team and a set of 13 basic rules. The first game was played on December 21, 1891. Initially, players could only advance the ball by passing it. Bouncing the ball along the floor – what we call “dribbling” today – did not become part of the game until later. Players earned points by successfully tossing the soccer ball into the peach basket. After each basket that was made, players had to climb a ladder to retrieve the ball from the basket. Iron hoops with open-ended nets didn’t come along until 1913.