James Naismith: Inventor of Basketball

James Naismith was born in Ramsay township, near Almonte, Ontario, Canada, in 1861. He invented the sport of basketball, and was also the first person to bring head safety equipment, in the form of the helmet, to American Football. He was the oldest son to his Scottish parents who moved to Canada, in 1851.

Naismith was a very good athlete, with special abilities in American football and basketball. He gained a degree while attending The Presbyterian College, in Montreal. He also won a medal for being the top athlete in the senior year of his college. After graduation, he moved to Springfield, Mass, where he became a physical education teacher for, YMCA International Training School. During his time at the school he was asked to make up a game that would keep the schools track athletes in shape, and this is when he invented basketball. Little did he know at the time, that basketball would become one of the most popular indoor games of all time.

The game he invented was rather different from today’s game of basketball, as he used peach baskets to catch the ball, the ball then had to be retrieved from these baskets as there were no holes at the bottom to let the ball come through. There was no such thing as the “dribble”, the ball was moved up the court by passing alone. Players would sometimes use coal dusting rubbed onto their hands in order to get a better grip of the ball. If the ball went out of the court area, then the first person to get the ball had possession of it. Initially, the game was favored by men, and played in the US and Canada. Basketball spread rapidly to other countries, and women also got involved in the sport. In 1936, men’s basketball was added to the summer Olympics, in Berlin. Women’s basketball didn’t become an Olympic sport until 1976 , in Montreal.

James Naismith became the first basketball coach at the University of Kansas, when he moved there, in 1898. He coached Forrest Allen who went on to become one of the best coaches known in the history of basketball. Naismith married Maude Sherman, in 1894, and they had five children together. As well as inventing basketball he also graduated as a medical doctor, and was Presbyterian Minister. His first wife died in 1937, in 1939 he went on to marry Florence Kincade. However, the marriage only lasted less than six months, as James Naismith died of a cerebral brain hemorrhage.

In honor of this great inventor the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was opened, in Springfield, Mass, in the year 1968. He was also recognized in 2007 at the FIBA Hall of Fame. The original thirteen rules of Basketball that Naismith made were passed down to his son upon his death. His grandson later received these rules, and they are now available for Lamar University basketball fans to view.

Source: Wikipedia