The story of the teacher who invented basketball: Who is James Naismith?

Naismith was a physical education teacher here. He used two peach baskets as goal goals in his first basketball game in 1891. Students were enthusiastic throughout the match. After several attempts, William R. Chase tried a shot from midfield—the first and only point in a historic game. Rumors of this newly invented game spread quickly, and many associations wrote to Naismith asking for a copy of the rules of the game. Naismith published the rules in the January 15, 1892 issue of Triangle, the YMCA Training School's campus journal.

How did James Naismith invent basketball?

In December 1891, James Naismith, a college teacher, had a problem. Students who were locked in the building due to the winter could not continue their education. It was too cold to play football and baseball, and it was very dangerous to practice these sports in the gym. The school asked Naismith to invent a new indoor sport. Naismith remembered a stone-throwing game he played as a child. He imagined a game where players would throw a ball to a goal, and the team that scored the most balls into the goal would win.

James Naismith (NAY-smith; November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939) was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball. After moving to the United States, he wrote the original basketball rule book and founded the University of Kansas basketball program.

Naismith called his new game "basketball" and wrote 13 rules. All equipment was two peach baskets and a soccer ball. Naismith nailed the baskets to both ends of the gym 3 feet above the ground. Each of the teams had 9 players. Naismith tossed the ball off-center to start the game fairly. On December 21, 1891, the game of basketball was born in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The popularity of the new sport grew rapidly. Naismith's students continued to spread the game as teachers and coaches. Basketball teams appeared in high schools and colleges. Boys and girls started playing basketball in the country.

Rule changes made the game more fun. Dribbling allowed. Added crucible to make scoring easier. Each time a point was scored, the game would stop and one person would climb up the ladder and retrieve the ball from the basket. The game has been sped up by using a perforated mesh instead of a peach basket. A new ball is introduced (the first basketball) that makes dribbling and shooting easier.

Naismith lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of the National Invitation Tournament (1938) and the NCAA Tournament (1939).

People flocked to the city to see this exciting new sport. Then professional leagues were established. In the 1920s, professional teams such as the Original Celtics and Harlem Rens attracted large crowds with their nationwide tours. Basketball began to spread around the world.

Basketball became an Olympic sport in 1936. Naismith made the jump ball in the first Olympic basketball game. After the championship game, he presented the medals to the players. The game, which he had invented as a "winter distraction", had become a global sport.

Despite the success of his new game, Naismith's focus continued to be teaching and training. He graduated from the University of Colorado as a medical doctor in 1898 and founded a basketball program at the University of Kansas. Here he also assumed the role of physical education director.

After his death in 1939, the popularity of basketball continued to grow. The original pages of the 13 rules of basketball he wrote in 1891 sold for $4.3 million in December 2010. The rules have remained largely unchanged to date.

Early years of basketball

In the first years after the invention of basketball, the number of players on a team varied according to the number of the class and the size of the playing field. In 1894, when the playing field was less than 167 square meters, the rule was made that the matches should be played with teams of five. The number increased to seven if the hall was between 167 and 334 square meters, and to nine when it exceeded 334. In 1895 people started to form teams of mostly five and two years later the rule changed to five players. That number has remained the same since then.

Since both Naismith and his five players are Canadian, it is not surprising that Canada was the first country where basketball was played outside of the United States. Basketball was played in France in 1893, in England in 1894, soon in Australia, China, and India, and in 1900 in Japan. Turkey achieved this in 1921.

In 1893, a company called Narragansett Machinery designed and marketed an iron pulley with a hammock-style basket. Initially, a ladder was made, then a post, and then a chain tied under the net, making it easier to get the ball after the point was scored. Connecting the basket with six open nets was adopted as the rule in 1912-13. In 1895-1896, the score for scoring (called a goal) was reduced from three to two, and free throw scores were reduced from three to one.

In the first two years of the invention of basketball, soccer balls were used. In 1894, the first basketball was designed and launched. It was about 10 cm larger in circumference than a soccer ball and weighed 567 grams. In 1948-49, the laceless basketball became official and its size was determined as 76 cm.

The first school to play the game of basketball was either Geneva College or the University of Iowa. Playdates refer to 1892 and 1890 respectively. The first intercollegiate basketball game was played on January 18 between the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa. The host was Iowa. The University of Chicago won the game in 1896, 15-12. Neither team used substitutes. The referee of the match was H. F. Kallenberg from Iowa—the referee would be from the host—but some in the audience objected to the decisions. H. F. Kallenberg became one of the first basketball coaches.

Basketball gained steady but slow popularity in the United States and internationally in the first three decades after World War II. Interest in the game deepened with the start of television broadcasts, but the reputation of basketball exploded, especially with the emergence of cable television in the 1980s. People would tap into the screen to watch amazing actors like Earvin ("Magic") Johnson, Julius Erving ("Dr. J"), Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan.