Under orders from Luther Gulick, head of physical education there, Naismith was given 14 days to create an indoor game that would provide an "athletic distraction" Gulick demanded that it would not take up much room, could help its track athletes to keep in shape and explicitly emphasized to "make it fair for all players and not too rough". At the Springfield YMCA, Naismith struggled with a rowdy class that was confined to indoor games throughout the harsh New England winter, thus was perpetually short-tempered. It used a peach basket attached to the wall.Īfter completing the YMCA Physical Director training program that had brought him to Springfield, Naismith was hired as a full-time faculty member in 1891. Springfield College: invention of basketball īasket Ball The original 1891 "Basket Ball" court in Springfield College. Naismith played football during his one year as a student at Springfield, where he was coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg and scored a touchdown in the first exhibition of indoor college football at Madison Square Garden. From 1888 to 1890, Naismith taught physical education and became the first McGill director of athletics, but then left Montreal to study at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. ![]() At the end of his career, in 19, he would receive honorary doctorates from both institutions. Naismith earned a BA in physical education (1888) and a diploma at the Presbyterian College in Montreal (1890). He won multiple Wicksteed medals for outstanding gymnastics performances. He played centre on the football team, and made himself some padding to protect his ears. Although described as a slight figure, standing 5 feet 10 + 1⁄ 2 inches (1.791 m) and listed at 178 pounds (81 kg) he was a talented and versatile athlete, representing McGill in football, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, and gymnastics. In the same year, Naismith entered McGill University in Montreal. Then, he enrolled in Almonte High School, in Almonte, Ontario, from which he graduated in 1883. Orphaned early in his life, Naismith lived with his aunt and uncle for many years and attended grade school at Bennies Corners near Almonte. To play duck on a rock most effectively, Naismith soon found that a soft lobbing shot was far more effective than a straight hard throw, a thought that later proved essential for the invention of basketball. Gifted in farm labor, Naismith spent his days outside playing catch, hide-and-seek, or duck on a rock, a medieval game in which a person guards a large drake stone from opposing players, who try to knock it down by throwing smaller stones at it. The "A" was added by someone in administration at the University of Kansas. ![]() Despite some sources to the contrary Naismith never had a middle name and never signed his name with an "A" initial. Naismith was born on November 6, 1861, in Almonte, Canada West, Province of Canada (now part of Mississippi Mills, Ontario, Canada) to Scottish parents. ![]() Early years Sculpture in Almonte, Ontario ![]() Allen then went on to coach legends including Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith, among others, who themselves coached many notable players and future coaches. While a coach at Kansas, Naismith coached Phog Allen, who later became the coach at Kansas for 39 seasons, beginning a lengthy and prestigious coaching tree. He then arrived at the University of Kansas, later becoming the Kansas Jayhawks' athletic director and coach. Seven years after inventing basketball, Naismith received his medical degree in Denver in 1898. Naismith studied and taught physical education at McGill University in Montreal until 1890 before moving to Springfield, Massachusetts, United States later that year, where in 1891 he designed the game of basketball while he was teaching at the International YMCA Training School. Naismith lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of the National Invitation Tournament (1938) and the NCAA Tournament (1939). After moving to the United States, he wrote the original basketball rule book and founded the University of Kansas basketball program. James Naismith ( NAY-smith November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939) was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball.
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