James Naismith

1861-1939

Canadian physical education teacher

The Canadian-born physical education instructor James Naismith made an indelible mark on sports history when he invented the game of basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts, in December 1891. With a soccer ball, two peach baskets, a ladder, and ten written rules, Naismith created the sport within two weeks, after he was asked to come up with an indoor game to keep students active during the severe New England winter. Word about "basket ball," as it was originally called, spread quickly, and by 1900 the game had gained popularity at universities across the country. Although Naismith had played the game only a handful of times, he lived to see his brainchild become an international sport, making its Olympic debut in 1936, three years before his death.

Combined Sports and Spirituality

The eldest son of Scottish immigrant John Naismith and his Scottish-Canadian wife, Margaret, James Naismith was born on November 6, 1861, near Almonte, Ontario, Canada. One of three children, eight-year-old Naismith moved with his family to a milling community in Grand Calumet, where his father took work as a sawhand. Loss was a theme of his early childhood, as he was orphaned at age ten, when his parents succumbed to typhoid fever within three weeks of each other. Naismith and his siblings then lived in the Upper Canadian village of Bennie's Corners with their maternal grandmother. When she died only two years later, an uncle, Peter Young, took over care of the Naismith children.

Young Naismith, whose athletic strength surpassed his early academic performance, attended Bennie's Corners' one-room schoolhouse. He attended Almonte High School initially for only two years, and dropped out, but four years later he returned and eventually graduated. Before and after school he worked on the Young family farm, and passed his free time playing sports with friends. In the winter, he and his peers enjoyed snowshoeing,

ice hockey, skating, and tobogganing; in summer, they swam in the Indian and Mississippi Rivers.

In 1883 Naismith entered McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, where he applied himself to his studies and became a strong student. To keep fit, he participated in football, rugby, lacrosse, and gymnastics. Completing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Hebrew, he graduated in the top ten in his class in 1887, and went on to study at McGill's theological school, Presbyterian College. Although he was a good theological student and won scholarships for his achievements, Naismith aggravated his professors by continuing to participate in sports. The theologians disapproved particularly of lacrosse, which some even referred to as "legalized murder." Yet Naismith held to his belief that one could pursue both an athletic and a spiritual life.

Living in Montreal, Naismith became acquainted with the Young Men's Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.), which had been founded in London around 1800 and established branches in Montreal and Boston in 1851. At the Montreal Y.M.C.A., Naismith approached the administrators with a desire to become an instructor who combined spirituality and athletics in a program for young athletes. The general secretary, D. A. Budge, told Naismith about an international training school in Springfield, Massachusetts, which trained Y.M.C.A. youth leaders. After obtaining his diploma from McGill's Presbyterian College of Theology, and becoming an unordained minister, Naismith departed for Massachusetts in the late summer of 1890.

Created a New Indoor Sport

At the Y.M.C.A. International Training School in Springfield, Naismith took courses that combined his two chief interests: spiritual and physical development. He also taught physical education to local youths, and played rugby with the Y.M.C.A.'s team. In the summer months, Y.M.C.A. youths enjoyed a wide range of sports, including football, baseball, and track and field, which peaked in interest in the 1870s and '80s. But the athletes' winter options—mainly calisthenics, gymnastics, and drills—were much more limited.

In the winter of 1891, during his second year with the Springfield Y.M.C.A., Naismith found himself in charge of the indoor physical education program. His students consisted primarily of bored, troublemaking youths and of mature men who had begun to tire of the indoor sports options. Realizing that interest in the indoor program was beginning to wane, the head physical education instructor, Luther Gulick, charged Naismith and his co-trainees with the task of developing new indoor games. Gulick gave the trainees two weeks to come up with their new games, and to submit proposals for them. Naismith rose to the challenge.

To create a new sport, Naismith looked for inspiration to outdoor sports like soccer, lacrosse, and football, and attempted to modify them to suit an indoor format. But since the game would be played on a hardwood floor, sports involving excessive running, tackling, and rough-housing were out of the question. Brainstorming for other ideas, Naismith recalled a childhood game called "duck on the rock," which involved throwing balls into empty boxes or baskets. Realizing that the baskets or boxes, placed at opposite ends of a court, would make good goals, he adopted them for his new game. To pose more of a challenge to players, and to emphasize skill instead of force as a key to winning, Naismith decided to raise the goals above the players' heads.

His new game was beginning to take shape, and the head instructor, Gulick, was beginning to take notice. In fact, Gulick chose Naismith's plan over the other trainees' proposals, and helped him develop some rules for a promising new indoor sport. Four basic rules were the among the first to be adopted: (1) no running with the ball in hand (hence the practice of "dribbling"), (2) no tackling or rough body contact, (3) a horizontal goal above players' heads, and (4) freedom of any player to obtain the ball and score at any time.

With the help of a janitor, Naismith found two empty peach baskets that were about 15 inches in diameter around the top. With a hammer and nails, he secured them to the rails of two lower balconies on opposite ends of the gymnasium, about ten feet above the floor. (In these early days, the basket retained its bottom, and a step ladder was placed next to the basket for retrieval of the ball.) He was then ready to try out his new game with his students, who at the time did not realize they were making sports history. On that day in December 1891, they were players in the first-ever game of basketball. The new sport was an instant hit.

Chronology

1861	Born November 6 in Almonte, Ontario, Canada
1890	Arrives in Springfield, Massachusetts, to take courses in spiritual and physical development at a Y.M.C.A. training school at the School for Christian Workers (now Springfield College)
1891	Invents the game of basketball at the Y.M.C.A. in Springfield
1894	Marries Maude Shermann
1895	Becomes PE director at a Y.M.C.A. in Denver, Colorado
1898	Obtains medical degree from University of Colorado Medical School
1898	Becomes assistant gymnasium director at Kansas University
1909	Becomes a professor and doctor at Kansas University
1914	Serves as captain in Kansas First Infantry regiment
1915	Becomes a Presbyterian minister
1917	Serves 19-month post in France as Y.M.C.A. Secretary
1919	Becomes director of Kansas University's PE section
1925	Takes American citizenship
1936	Sees basketball become an official international sport at the Olympic Games in Berlin
1939	Dies on November 28 in Lawrence, Kansas

Awards and Accomplishments

1885	Silver medal for best all-around athlete, McGill University
1887	Gold medal for best all-around athlete, McGill University
1890	Silver medal for work in theology, Presbyterian College, Montreal
1910	Honorary Master's Degree in Physical Education, Kansas University
1939	Honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree, Presbyterian College, Montreal
1941	Posthumously elected to the American Academy of Physical Education
1959	Enshrined as the first member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

News about the game spread quickly, as the Y.M.C.A.'s nationwide newspaper, the Triangle, printed an article about the new game, along with thirteen formal rules, in January 1892. American military and naval academies also adopted the game, and arranged tournaments at home and abroad. And since the Springfield Y.M.C.A. was an international training school, trainees from around the world got wind of "basket ball," and took the game with them to their home countries. Within only two years, basketball had made its debut in more than a dozen countries.

Recognized as the Father of Basketball

Always humble and never self-promotional, Naismith avoided drawing attention to himself as the inventor of a popular new sport. Although his students had suggested he dub the game "Naismith-ball," their instructor laughed off the idea, choosing the simpler name of basket ball. Mainly a coach and teacher, Naismith played only two official basketball games in his lifetime: a public match in Springfield in 1892, and a game at the University of Kansas, where he became the assistant gymnasium director, in 1898.

After setting his new sport in motion, Naismith went on to pursue the career he had envisioned for himself, combining fitness and spirituality for a healthy body and a healthy mind. After completing his training in Springfield, he served as the physical education director at a Y.M.C.A. in Denver, Colorado. Here he attended University of Colorado Medical School, obtaining a medical degree in 1898. With his wife, Maude, he then relocated to the University of Kansas, where he first directed activities at the gymnasium, and then became a professor and doctor. Among the academic papers he published was his 1911 piece, "A Modern College."

Upon American involvement in the First World War, Naismith served as a captain in the Kansas First Infantry regiment from 1914 to 1917. Becoming an ordained Presbyterian minister in 1915, he soon added "chaplain" to his army responsibilities. In 1916 he and his regiment served for four months on the Mexican border. Upon the war's end, Naismith was nominated Y.M.C.A. Secretary, and served a nineteen-month post in France before returning to Kansas University in 1919. He became an American citizen in 1925, and he served as Kansas University's director of physical education until 1937.

Before Naismith died at age seventy-eight in 1939, he witnessed basketball's acceptance as an official international sport at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Although he generally shied away from public acknowledgement, Naismith accepted an invitation to the Games' inaugural ceremony, and agreed to throw the ball for the Games' first-ever basketball match.

The Early Days of Basketball

The uniform on that historic day in December was long gray trousers, short sleeved jerseys and a pair of gym shoes. The team consisted of nine players—a goalkeeper, two guards (right and left), three centres (right centre, left centre, and centre), two wings (right and left) and a home man, stationed in this order from the goal…. The rules called for a refereeand an umpire. With the bottoms remaining in the basket, a step ladder was placed beside the basket for retrieval.

From the eighteen members of his class, Naismith soon organized a team of nine, led by Frank Mahan as captain, for competition against teams in the eastern states. This group of nine is usually recognized as the first basketball team in history.

Source: The Early Days of Basketball." Canada's Digital Collections. http://collections.ic.gc.ca/naismith/james/basketball/early_days.htm (October 15, 2002).

Naismith never sought fame or fortune for his invention of the popular sport, and it was not until after his death that this accomplished figure—who over his lifetime received degrees in philosophy, religion, physical education, and medicine—achieved true recognition for his contribution to sports history. In 1941 he was posthumously elected to the American Academy of Physical Education, and in 1959 Naismith, his name now synonymous with the Father of Basketball, was enshrined as the first member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.