Who Invented Basketball

Unusually, for team sports, it is known exactly who invented basketball and exactly when it was invented. It is more usual for such a sport to have just evolved and have no clear starting point and no name for an actual inventor of the game.

It was a Mr James A Naismith who invented basketball. He was born on November 6th 1861 and died on November 28th 1939. He was born a Canadian near Ontario in the Ramsay township. His parents were Scottish immigrants who had crossed the Atlantic in around 1851. His father, John, was involved in the mining industry. As a youngster, James was always athletic and was a great gymnast. He also played football for McGill University where he was studying physical education. After gaining a BA in the subject, James attended the Presbyterian College in Montreal and went on to gain a Diploma.

After his studies, James Naismith started working as a teacher at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was whilst he was here that he was asked to come up with a game for the students that could be played indoors. He had various stipulations to work to regarding the size of the room and the number of people etc. He remembered playing a game by the name of "duck on a rock" as a child and decided to implement some of the ideas basketball his new game. basketball game involved two teams with nine players in each team, a ball and two peach baskets - one nailed to each end of the gymnasium. The principle was simple; you had to pass the ball to your team members and then score a goal by throwing it into the peach basket. The game was an instant success and the name of James Naismith has gone down in history as the man who invented basketball.

In January of 1892, just a month after having been asked to devise a game, James Naismith published the rules of the game. These rules were very similar to the ones of today's game. The main difference was the lack of dribbling. At this point the ball was just thrown between the players. Although it was Naismith who invented basketball and wrote the rulebook, dribbling, which is one of the most important aspects these days, actually just evolved as time went by. Another interesting difference in the rules is the possession ruling for when the ball is out of play. In Naismith's original rule book the ball became the possession of whoever retrieved it first!

It is great to know the history of the game and to have so many details regarding how it came to exist. James Naismith is indeed remembered as not only the man who invented basketball, but also a great gymnast and sportsman in his own right. He is also high thought of for his continued support of his game and his work to bring basketball into the schools and colleges of the nation.

Robert Grazian is an accomplished niche website developer and author.

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