The History of Basketball

The game of basketball originated in December 1891 by a Canadian born man by the name of
James Naismith.

Naismith was a teacher at the YMCA training school in Springfield, Massachusetts. He was
required to train young men to become instructors at newly opened YMCA centres.

With the cold weather keeping the class indoors, in December 1891, Naismith was asked by
the schools Superintendent of Physical Education, Dr. Luther. H. Gulick, to create an indoor
game that would keep the young men active during the cold winter months.
Upon this request, Naismith nervously set out to create a game that his class would enjoy. In a
diary found many years later he had written…

“I felt this was a crucial moment in my life as it meant success or failure of my attempt to hold
the interest of the class and devise a new game”
With the help of his wife and memories of playing ‘Duck on a Rock’ during his childhood, he
decided to create a game that would focus on skill rather than strength.

For those who are curious… ‘Duck on a Rock’ was a game in which players threw rocks at a
certain target placed on top of a large boulder or tree stump.

The game he ended up inventing is the game we all know and love today – basketball.  
                    

How Basketball Was First Played

Basketball required very little equipment to play… two peach baskets hanging 10 feet above
the ground, and a soccer ball.

The object of the game is to work as a team to throw or bat the soccer ball into the opposing
teams peach basket, while defending a score in your peach basket from the opposition team.
As you can imagine, it was a major pain getting the ball out of the peach basket when a team
finally scored. Some say they used a long poll to push the ball out, others say someone was
required to climb a ladder to retrieve it…

Either way, the initial players weren’t great shooters so they didn’t have to worry about this
too much! Heck, in the first game ever played there was only one score during the entire
game! But I’ll explain more about that game later in this article.

Originally the game involved nine players on each team… What! Why nine players? Because
Naismith’s class had 18 people in it.

He also developed rules for the game known as ‘The 13 Rules of Basketball’.

How Basketball Was Able to Storm the World

Basketball was introduced to the rest of the world due to efforts from the US Army and the
YMCA. In 1893, the first international basketball match was organized. Members took the
game to India, Japan, Persia, and China as well.

In 1895, the first recorded basketball game between two college teams was organized. The
University of Minnesota A&M faced Hamline University under 9-on-9 rules, winning the game
9-3. In 1896, the first collegiate 5-on-5 game was played between Iowa and the University of
Chicago, with Chicago winning 15-12.

By 1898, professional leagues were forming, as were collegiate leagues. Six teams took part in
the first professional basketball league, but the league was disbanded in 1904. Between then
and World War I, small championships were created and some teams played for money
against challengers. This includes the original Celtics basketball team.

By 1900, most major colleges were fielding a basketball team. In 1905, formal collegiate rules
were introduced for basketball and in 1909, the NCAA would take over the game for good. The
first NCAA DI tournament would be held in 1939.