HISTORY OF BASKETBALL

Basketball is built into the fabric of

Springfield College. The game was
invented by Springfield College
instructor and graduate student James
Naismith in 1891, and has grown into
the worldwide athletic phenomenon we
know it to be today.
 It was the winter of 1891-1892. Inside a gymnasium
at Springfield College (then known as the International
YMCA Training School), located in Springfield, Mass.,
was a group of restless college students. The young
men had to be there; they were required to participate in
indoor activities to burn off the energy that had been
building up since their football season ended. The
gymnasium class offered them activities such as
marching, calisthenics, and apparatus work, but these
were pale substitutes for the more exciting games of
football and lacrosse they played in warmer seasons.
 As Naismith, a second-year graduate student who
had been named to the teaching faculty, looked at his
class, his mind flashed to the summer session of
1891, when Gulick introduced a new course in the
psychology of play. In class discussions, Gulick had
stressed the need for a new indoor game, one “that
would be interesting, easy to learn, and easy to play
in the winter and by artificial light.” No one in the
class had followed up on Gulick’s challenge to invent
such a game. But now, faced with the end of the fall
sports season and students dreading the mandatory
and dull required gymnasium work, Naismith had a
new motivation.
 So Naismith went to work. His charge was to
create a game that was easy to assimilate, yet
complex enough to be interesting. It had to be
playable indoors or on any kind of ground, and
by a large number of players all at once. It should
provide plenty of exercise, yet without the
roughness of football, soccer, or rugby since
those would threaten bruises and broken bones if
played in a confined space.
 Naismith approached the school janitor, hoping
he could find two, 18-inch square boxes to use as
goals. The janitor came back with two peach
baskets instead. Naismith then nailed them to the
lower rail of the gymnasium balcony, one at each
end. The height of that lower balcony rail happened
to be ten feet. A man was stationed at each end of
the balcony to pick the ball from the basket and put
it back into play. It wasn’t until a few years later
that the bottoms of those peach baskets were cut to
let the ball fall loose.
 Naismith then drew up the 13 original rules,
which described, among other facets, the method of
moving the ball and what constituted a foul. A referee
was appointed. The game would be divided into two,
15-minute halves with a five-minute resting period in
between. Naismith’s secretary typed up the rules and
tacked them on the bulletin board. A short time later,
the gym class met, and the teams were chosen with
three centers, three forwards, and three guards per
side. Two of the centers met at mid-court, Naismith
tossed the ball, and the game of “basket ball” was
born.
 13 Original Rules·
The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands.·
The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands, but
never with the fist.· A player cannot run with the ball. The player
must throw it from the spot on which he catches it, allowance to be
made for a man running at good speed.· The ball must be held in
or between the hands. The arms or body must not be used for
holding it.· No shouldering, holding, pushing, striking or tripping in
any way of an opponent. The first infringement of this rule by any
person shall count as a foul; the second shall disqualify him until
the next goal is made or, if there was evident intent to injure the
person, for the whole of the game. No substitution shall be
allowed.
The referee shall be the judge of the ball and decide
 

when it is in play in bounds, to which side it belongs,

and shall keep the time. He shall decide when a goal
has been made and keep account of the goals with
any other duties that are usually performed by a
referee.· The time shall be two 15-minute halves with
five minutes' rest between.· The side making the most
goals in that time shall be declared the winners.
The First Ball
The very first ball that was
used was a soccer ball until
1940 when an actual
“basketball” was invented.
The basketball was slightly
smaller, about thirty inches
in diameter
The Basket

The first baskets that were used

were two peach baskets that
were hung from the balcony of
the gym. By 1906, the peach
baskets were replaced by metal
baskets with holes in the
bottom. In 1913, a hoop with a
net was invented so the
basketball could fall freely to
the ground
Players Allowed

In 1897, the number of players

allowed on the court was
reduced to five on each team. A
team consisted of a center, two
forward and two guards. At the
beginning, there were allowing
six, seven and even eight players
on each team.
 Harlem Globe Trotters
Basketball became popular
because of the Harlem
Globetrotters. Abe Saperstein
created the Harlem Globetrotters
in 1927.They were an all-Negro
team, which toured the world to
promote basketball. There was
no city too big or too small for
the them to play at.
How the NBA was formed.
In 1946, the Basketball
Association of America was
formed but it did not go well
because it was competing
against the National Basketball
League. But in 1949, the
Basketball Association of
America and the National
Basketball League joined
together. They changed their
name to the National
Basketball Association (NBA).
  Aspects of the Game that changed

In the 1930’s, Kenny Sailor invented the jump

shot. He realized that he could shoot over
taller players if he jumped while he was
shooting.Also in the 1940’s, Bob Kurland use
to block shots, which led to the rule of
“goaltending”.
 In 1952 the foul lane was widened and
the three-second rule was put into affect
so centers could not station themselves
in front of the basket all the time. In
1954, the twenty-four second shot clock
was introduced to eliminating the
“stalling technique” used by teams so
that they could keep the lead in the
game. The three-point line was
introduced in 1967.
Great Players to Ever Play the
Game

Michael Jordan, Julius Erving aka Dr.

J, Larry Bird, Earvin “Magic” Johnson,
Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and
many more