James Naismith
James Naismith, M.A., M.D.,
D.D, was the
Canadian inventor of the sport of
basketball and the first to introduce the use of a
helmet in
American football. He was also the first basketball coach assembling a team of 5 players.
He was born in
Almonte,
Ontario,
Canada, the eldest son of
Scottish immigrants who had arrived in the area in 1851 and worked in the mining industry.
Encyclopedia
James Naismith, M.A., M.D.,
D.D, was the
Canadian inventor of the sport of
basketball and the first to introduce the use of a
helmet in
American football. He was also the first basketball coach assembling a team of 5 players.
He was born in
Almonte,
Ontario,
Canada, the eldest son of
Scottish immigrants who had arrived in the area in 1851 and worked in the mining industry.
Invention of basketball
In 1891, while working as a
physical education teacher at the YMCA International Training School in
Springfield, Massachusetts, and coaching
american football at McGill University, Naismith was asked to look for a way to relieve his students' boredom during indoor winter gym classes.
Inspired mostly by a Canadian game he played as a child in Ontario,
Canada called
Duck-on-a-Rock, Naismith's basketball started December 15, 1891 with thirteen rules, modified versions of twelve of those are still used today, a
peach basket nailed to either end of the school's gymnasium, and two teams of nine players. On January 15, 1892 Naismith published the rules for
basketball. The original rules did not include what we know today as the
dribble. They initially only allowed the ball to be moved up the court via a pass. Following each "goal" a jump ball was taken in the middle of the court. Although it wasn't a rule, players would commonly use the dust of coal to cover the palms of their hands, allowing them to get a better grip on the ball. The coal palm was used up until the early 1930s when the Depression hit, making the raw materials very pricey. Also interesting was the rule surrounding balls out of bounds - the first player to retrieve the ball received possession.
Basketball became a popular men's sport in the
United States and
Canada very quickly, and spread to
other countries as well. Additionally, there were several efforts to establish a women's version; this met with great resistance in some circles and was consequently far slower to become truly widespread.
The men's sport was officially added to the
Olympic Games program at the
1936 Summer Olympics in
Berlin. There, Naismith handed out the medals to three North American teams;
United States, for the Gold Medal, in a game that was played outdoors in rain with Naismith's native country of
Canada, for the Silver Medal, and
Mexico, for their Bronze medal win. Women's basketball finally became an Olympic event in
Montreal during the
1976 Summer Olympics. Previously, there had been a men's basketball competition, in connection with the
1904 Games at
St. Louis, USA.
Coaching career
Naismith moved to the
University of Kansas, in 1898, following his studies in Denver, becoming a
professor, and the school's first basketball coach. University of Kansas went on to develop one of the nation's most storied college basketball programs.
Naismith is the only Kansas coach to have a losing record during his tenure at the school. Nevertheless, Naismith has one of the greatest coaching legacies in basketball history. Naismith coached Forrest "Phog" Allen, who then became one of the coaches with the most wins in U.S. college basketball history, and his eventual successor at Kansas. Phog Allen was the college basketball coach of
Dean Smith and
Adolph Rupp, who are the two winningest of men's college basketball and won a combined total of six NCAA championships.
Adolph Rupp was the college basketball coach of
Pat Riley who is one of the winningest coaches in
NBA history and six NBA championships.
Dean Smith went on to be the college basketball coach of hall of fame coach Larry Brown, current North Carolina coach Roy Williams , and basketball great
Michael Jordan.
In the late
1930s Naismith played a role in the formation of the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball, which later became the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.
In August 1936, while attending the
Berlin Olympics, he was named honorary President of the
International Basketball Federation.
Personal life
Naismith married Maude Sherman in 1894. They had five children. Naismith was also a Presbyterian Minister. Naismith became a
naturalized American
citizen on May 4, 1925. In 1939 he was awarded his
Doctor of Divinity from The Presbyterian College, Montreal. After Maude's death in 1937, he married Florence Kincade on June 11 1939, less than six months before his own death, in Lawrence, Kansas, of a cerebral hemorrhage. He is buried there alongside his first wife in Lawrence, the hometown of the University of Kansas where he was a professor and men's basketball coach.
He has been honored extensively in his native country
Canada and also in other nations. He was the founding inductee when on February 17, 1968 the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, named in his honor, opened in
Springfield, Massachusetts.
In 2005 James Naismith's grandson, Ian Naismith, planned on selling the original copy of the basketball rule book. The rules were passed down on Naismith's death to his youngest son, James Naismith, who was Ian's father. James lived in Corpus Christi, Texas.
13 Rules of Basketball - Written by James Naismith
- The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands.
- The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands, but never with the fist.
- A player cannot run with the ball. The player must throw it from the spot on which he catches it, allowance to be made for a man running at good speed.
- The ball must be held by the hands. The arms or body must not be used for holding it.
- No shouldering, holding, pushing, striking or tripping in any way of an opponent. The first infringement of this rule by any person shall count as a foul; the second shall disqualify him until the next goal is made or, if there was evident intent to injure the person, for the whole of the game. No substitution shall be allowed.
- A foul is striking at the ball with the fist, violations of Rules 3 and 4 and such as described in Rule 5.
- If either side makes three consecutive fouls it shall count as a goal for the opponents .
- A goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the grounds into the basket and stays there, providing those defending the goal do no touch or disturb the goal. If the ball rests on the edges, and the opponent moves the basket, it shall count as a goal.
- When the ball goes out of bounds, it shall be thrown into the field and played by the first person touching it. In case of dispute the umpire shall throw it straight into the field. The thrower-in is allowed five seconds. If he holds it longer, it shall go to the opponent. If any side persists in delaying the game, the umpire shall call a foul on them.
- The umpire shall be the judge of the men and shall note the fouls and notify the referee when three consecutive fouls have been made. He shall have power to disqualify men according to Rule 5.
- The referee shall be judge of the ball and shall decide when the ball is in play, in bounds, to which side it belongs, and shall keep the time. He shall decide when a goal has been made and keep account of the goals, with any other duties that are usually performed by a referee.
- The time shall be two fifteen-minute halves, with five minutes rest between.
- The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winner.
External links and references
- History of basketball in Canada
