February 9, 1895: Like its contemporary, basketball, but unlike baseball, football, ice hockey and soccer, we know about the invention of volleyball. We know who, when, where, and why.
Indeed, the invention of volleyball has a direct connection to that of basketball. They were both invented under the banner of the YMCA, the Young Men's Christian Association. They were invented a shade over 3 years apart, and at a distance of 10 miles.
William George Morgan was born on January 23, 1870 in Lockport, New York, outside Buffalo. He attended the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, a school which would evolve into Springfield College. While there, he was a student of Dr. James Naismith, who invented basketball there on December 21, 1891.
During the Summer of 1895, Morgan moved 10 miles north to Holyoke, Massachusetts, where he continued to work for the YMCA, becoming the Director of Physical Education. With Morgan being the Director, it allowed him to devise workout plans and teach sports in depth.
He invented a game for his clients at the YMCA, most of whom were middle-aged businessmen for whom the physical demands of basketball were too great. Because he originally derived the game from badminton, he initially named the sport "mintonette." As with baseball, he gave his game 9 rounds and called them "innings." Eventually, this would change, depending on the level of the game, with 1st to 15 points, or 1st to 21 points, wins.
After an observer, Alfred Halstead, noticed the volleying nature of the game at its first exhibition match in 1896, played at Springfield, the game quickly became known as "volley ball" -- like "base ball," originally written as two words. As with basketball, the YMCA spread the game throughout its installations, all over the world.
Despite its being popular in high school and college sports, being an Olympic sport since 1964, the growth of its beach variety, and the efforts of many people, including an attempt in the late 1970s by basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain, who loved the sport, there has never been a major professional league for volleyball. I guess, with the NBA and the NHL having such a hold on North Americans' Winter viewing habits, both live and on television, there just isn't room for it.
Morgan left his job at the YMCA in 1897, to start a new career with General Electric and Westinghouse. He stayed in touch with Springfield College and stated that he was "content in the knowledge that the game brought a richer life to millions of people throughout the world." He died on December 27, 1942, in Lockport, at the age of 72.
In 1985, the City of Holyoke established the Volleyball Hall of Fame. Morgan was the 1st inductee.
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February 9, 1895 was a Saturday. There were no scores in North American sports. Baseball and football were out of season, hockey was still all-amateur, and basketball had barely been invented.
In English soccer, Woolwich Arsenal, the forerunner of the team I would later support, played Yorkshire team Rotherham Town to a 1-1 draw at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, then a part of Kent but now a part of South-East London.
Three days earlier, in Baltimore, a child was born to George Herman Ruth and his wife, Katie Schamberger. He would be named George Herman Ruth Jr., The world would know him as Babe Ruth.
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