Who Invented the Game of Basketball?
Basketball, a game first played in America and dominated by Americans for many years, was invented by Canadian-born educator Dr. James A. Naismith in 1891. Naismith was looking to create a game that could be played indoors during the winter between the football and baseball seasons.
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Birth of a New Game
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Dr. Naismith created basketball to keep a physical education class fit during the cold winter months in Springfield, Massachusetts. The class had 18 students, so the game originally called for 9 men on each side.
Duck on a Rock
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Basketball originally was played with a soccer ball, and players threw the ball at peach baskets overhead. According to the Naismith Museum, (see Resources), the idea for shooting the ball at the baskets came from a childhood game--Duck on a Rock--in which Dr. Naismith and his pals would lob a stone at another stone sitting on a rock.
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Go West, Young Man
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As basketball became wildly popular thanks to the national YMCA network, Dr. Naismith took a position as physical education director at the Denver YMCA in 1895.
Coach of the Jayhawks
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In 1898, Dr. Naismith became the basketball coach at the University of Kansas, where he led the team for 10 years. He continued to teach at Kansas until his retirement in 1937.
Hall of Fame Enshrinement
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Twenty years after his death in 1939, Dr. Naismith was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame where it all began in Springfield, Massachusetts.
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