Who Invented Basketball?

Basketball was invented by James Naismith, who at the time when he invented basketball was a physical education instructor at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States (now called Springfield College). At the time he invented basketball he was 31 years old with basketball first being invented in the winter of 1891. Naismith grew up in Canada and before coming to Springfield studied and taught at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

Context of basketball's invention:

During the winter, when weather conditions were too harsh to play outdoor sports such as American football and lacrosse, the gymnasium class had to stick to indoor activities. These activities included marching and callisthenics which were considered much less exciting than the games that they would play in the warmer months. This left the students disinterested and unenergetic in the mandatory sessions.

Luther Halsey Gulick, Naismith’s supervisor, realised and suggested a new indoor game should be created to play in the winter. Instructors tried to compose different activities, however failed. In a meeting, Naismith was given the task from Gulick to create a game that would stimulate and motivate the students. His goal was to create an interesting game that was still easy to understand and play, while most importantly being indoors. The game also needed to exercise the students without being rough in order to prevent injuries in the indoor space. When creating the game, Naismith was inspired by various sports including Rugby which influenced passing, lacrosse giving the idea to use goals and football (soccer) influencing the shape/size of the ball. He was also motivated by a game called duck on a rock which he played as a child and also included a ball and a goal.

The first iteration of basketball:

To facilitate resources for the game Naismith had invented, he approached the school janitor looking for two square 18 inch boxes. Instead, the janitor found two peach baskets which were nailed to a rail in the indoor gymnasium. The height of the baskets turned out to be 10 feet which is still the height of a basketball hoop today. As the bottom of the peach baskets wasn’t cut out until a few years later, someone had to be on the gymnasium's balcony in order to retrieve the ball. The original basketball was a football/soccer ball that had laces to sew it together.

When Naismith invented the game he created 13 rules and that a referee was to be appointed. These rules included that the ball could be thrown in any direction, players couldn’t run with the ball and the game had two halves which were divided into 15 minutes each with a five minute break in between. Furthermore, the rules decided how that the ball would be thrown back in bounds if it were to go out and pushing/holding a player as well as hitting the ball with a fist would be fouls. If a player reached two fouls they would have to leave the game until the next goal was made, or if a more serious foul was committed, disqualified from the whole game. Also, most importantly, the team with the most goals by the end of the two halves would win the game, where if there was a draw, the team who made the next goal would win.

Basketball’s evolution until the NBA:

• As the ball didn’t fall through the peach baskets, the peach baskets were made more sturdy and to allow the ball to pass through in 1892 which was developed to a metal basket in 1906. After this, a metal basket that we know today was introduced with designs featuring a nylon net in 1912. The nylon net was introduced to easily see if a shot had been made.

• The backboard was introduced in 1893 made out of wire mesh that could be dented. In 1904 wood backboards replaced the wire mesh with glass backboards being invented in 1909.

• Dribbling (bouncing the ball on the ground to move) was introduced in 1901. Spalding, a famous basketball manufacturing company became the official ball maker in the late 1890s. These early basketballs usually had different shapes and did not bounce easily. In 1929 the balls were redesigned to bouncer better and have hidden laces to reduce uneven bounces. Lastly, in 1942, modern moulded basketball with consistent shapes replaced the uneven stitched basketballs.

• Furthermore, scoring changed with free throws introduced for fouls in 1894 and in 1896 normal field goals were counted as two points instead of one.

• Additionally, when the game was first invented boundaries were not clarified, so straight line boundaries were introduced in 1904.

• Basketball also used to be played in a wire mesh cage to prevent delays from the ball going out of bounds. This was later abandoned in 1933 due to injuries and rough play inside the cage.

• The NBA was founded in 1946 with the first season in 1949 - 50 after the merge of the National Basketball League (NBL) and Basketball Association of America (BAA) who were originally rivals.