JAMES NAISMITH AND THE INVENTION OF BASKETBALL

In December 1891, college teacher James Naismith had a problem. His students, forced indoors
because of winter, had become rowdy. They had a lot of energy, but no way to burn it off. It was
too cold to play football and baseball, and too dangerous to play those sports in the gym.

The school asked Naismith to invent a new indoor sport. Naismith remembered a rock-tossing
game he played as a child. How about a game where players threw a ball at a target? The team
that tossed the most balls into the target would win.

Naismith called his new game “basket ball” and wrote up 13 rules. Two peach baskets and a
soccer ball were the equipment. Naismith put the baskets at each end of the gym, nailed 10 feet
above the floor. The teams each had nine players. Naismith threw the ball in the air for the first
tipoff. On December 21, 1891, the game of basketball was born in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Naismith called his new game “basket ball” and wrote up 13 rules. Two peach baskets and a
soccer ball were the equipment. Naismith put the baskets at each end of the gym, nailed 10 feet
above the floor. The teams each had nine players. Naismith threw the ball in the air for the first
tipoff. On December 21, 1891, the game of basketball was born in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Basketball became an Olympic sport in 1936. For the first Olympic basketball game, Naismith
tossed the ball for the tipoff. After the championship game, he presented the medals to the
players. The game James Naismith invented as a winter “distraction” had turned into a global
sport.