December 21, 1891: The Invention of Basketball

December 21, 1891: Basketball is invented by Dr. James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts. Unlike baseball, football and hockey, we have definitive answers as to the invention of basketball: We know who, when, where, how... and even why.

For those of you born in the 21st Century: No, basketball was not invented by LeBron James. For those of you born in the 1990s: No, it was not invented by Kobe Bryant. For those of you born in the 1980s: No, it was not invented by Michael Jordan. Maybe Wilt Chamberlain re-invented it, but he did not invent it.

James Naismith (no middle name) was born on November 6, 1861 in Almonte (now part of Mississippi Mills), Ontario, outside the Canadian capital of Ottawa. He graduated from Montreal's McGill University, where he lettered in lacrosse, gymnastics, soccer, rugby, and the Canadian version of gridiron football. He was hired as McGill's athletic director in 1890, but, just a year later, he was hired by the Young Men's Christian Association International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, the facility that is now Springfield College.

The YMCA's directors asked him to invent a game that could be played indoors in the Winter, when baseball and football couldn't be played. It would not be volleyball, but that would be close. Literally: William G. Morgan invented that sport in 1895, just 4 years later, and only 10 miles away in Holyoke, Massachusetts. And he would use the Springfield school for its 1st demonstration.

Naismith knew he should start with a ball, but with a large, soft one, like a soccer ball; not a small, hard one like a baseball, which would be dangerous in the confined space of a gymnasium. Morgan would follow this suggestion, and so, to this day, a standard volleyball now resembles an old-time soccer ball more than does a current soccer ball, or a current basketball, for that matter.

Naismith noted that most of the rough action of a sport took place around its goal: The goal in soccer, hockey or lacrosse; the end zone in football or rugby; or home plate in baseball. So he thought he could reduce the danger by raising the height of the goal.

He asked the school's custodian, a Mr. Stubbins, to get him two boxes, which he could use as goals. He was ready to name his sport "boxball." The custodian could only find peach baskets. So Dr. Naismith had invented basketball instead. The date was December 21, 1891.

In his handwritten report, Naismith told of the first game. Teams were nine-a-side, as opposed to the eventual standard of five-a-side. A soccer ball was used, as there was, as yet, no such thing as a basketball. The peach baskets, which would eventually be replaced by netting, were secured to the inside of the railing of the gymnasium's gallery, about 10 feet from the floor, setting a standard which has never changed.

Naismith had written 13 rules, and put them on a bulletin board on the gym wall. He said that the class did not show much enthusiasm. He said that most of the fouls were called for running with the ball, and some for tackling the ballcarrier like in football. There was, as yet, no dribbling: The ball could only be moved up the court by passing. And after every goal (later to be called a basket), another jump ball was taken (a rule eliminated in 1938). 

Through the influence of the YMCA's worldwide organization, the word was spread. Naismith earned his medical degree, and in 1898 became the head coach at the University of Kansas, which became one of the great college basketball programs. He remained head coach until 1907, and continued to teach at their Lawrence campus until his death on November 28, 1939, at the age of 78.

Within the last 4 years of his life, he had seen the debut of sold-out doubleheaders involving national powers at Madison Square Garden, the debut of basketball as an official medal sport at the Olympic Games, and the foundation of the NIT and the NCAA Tournament.

One of Naismith's players at Kansas was Forrest "Phog" Allen, who later became their head coach, and for whom their Allen Fieldhouse is named. Allen's players included Adolph Rupp, who turned the University of Kentucky into a national power; and Dean Smith, who did the same at North Carolina. One of Smith's players, Roy Williams, became head coach at Kansas, and excelled there before going back to North Carolina and winning National Championships there.

It all goes back to 1891, and James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1968, on the campus of Springfield College, which had been the YMCA school, the first Basketball Hall of Fame building opened. It was, and remains officially, named the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The growth of the sport required a new building in Springfield in 1985, and yet another in 2002.

There had been a Hall of Fame organization since 1959, prior to the construction of the first building. Naismith was one of the Hall's 15 charter inductees.

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December 21, 1891 was a Monday. Baseball and football were out of season, which is why basketball was invented, anyway. Hockey was still all-amateur. So the only score of significance on this historic day is the score of that very first game of basketball.

And only one goal was scored: One of the intramural teams beat the other, 1-0. In 1896, the rule was changed so that a single basketball goal was credited with the now-familiar 2 points.