History of basketballIn early December 1891, Luther Gulick, chairman of the physical education
department at the School for Christian Workers (now Springfield College) in
Springfield, Massachusetts, instructed physical education teacher James
Naismith to invent a new game to entertain the school’s athletes during the
winter season. With an ordinary soccer ball, Naismith assembled his class
of 18 young men, appointed captains of two nine-player teams, and
introduced them to the game of Basket Ball (then two words). Naismith, who
had outlined 13 original rules, dispatched the school janitor to find two
boxes to be fastened to the balcony railing at opposite sides of the
gymnasium, where they would serve as goals. The school janitor, however,
only found two half-bushel peach baskets, and the game was played with
these.
The soccer ball and the peach basket soon gave way to specialized
equipment. For example, in the early days the peach baskets were closed at
the bottom, meaning that someone had to climb on a ladder to retrieve the
ball after a made basket. The peach basket was later replaced by a metal
rim with a net hanging below, and in 1906 people began opening the netting
to let the ball fall through. Check out the other sport, Baseball, at a
site known for tons of information about the game, MLB Schedule.The first
basketballs were made from panels of leather stitched together with a
rubber bladder inside. A cloth lining was added to the leather for support
and uniformity. The molded basketball, introduced in about 1942, was a
significant advancement for the sport. The molded ball, a factory-made ball
that had a constant size and shape, offered better reaction and durability,
making play more consistent and the development of individual skills
easier. In Naismith’s original 13 rules, the ball could be batted in any
direction with one or both hands, but it could not be dribbled because
players could not move with the ball. Beginning in 1910 a player could
dribble the ball, but could not shoot after dribbling. It was not until
1916, following heated debate, that players were allowed to shoot after
dribbling.
Throughout basketball’s history, no part of the game has been more
monitored than the act of fouling an opponent. In basketball’s early days,
a player’s second foul would mean removal from the game until the next
field goal was made. If a team committed three consecutive fouls, the
opposition would be awarded a field goal. Beginning in 1894 players were
given a free throw when fouled. Beginning in 1908 players who committed
five fouls were disqualified from the game. Based on the severity of the
foul, the rules were soon amended so that players were awarded either two
shots or one shot plus a bonus shot, which was attempted only if the first
shot was made. The rules also determined that an offensive player could
commit a foul by playing too aggressively.
In 1892 Lithuanian-born physical education teacher Senda Berenson Abbott
introduced basketball to women, at Smith College in Northampton,
Massachusetts. Because it was believed that Naismith’s version of the game
could be too physically demanding for women, Berenson Abbott made the
following changes to the game: The court was divided into three equal
sections, with players required to stay in an assigned area; players were
prohibited from snatching or batting the ball from the hands of another
player; and players were prohibited from holding the ball for longer than
three seconds and from dribbling the ball more than three times.
Basketball’s growth spread in the United States and abroad through Young
Men’s Christian Associations (YMCAs), the armed forces, and colleges. Due
to its simple equipment requirements, indoor play, competitiveness, and
easily understood rules, basketball gained popularity quickly. In May 1901
several schools, including Yale and Harvard universities and Trinity, Holy
Cross, Amherst, and Williams colleges, formed the New England
Intercollegiate Basketball League. The development of collegiate leagues
and conferences brought organization and scheduling to competition, and
formal league play created rivalries. More importantly, collegiate leagues
became a critical training ground for officials.
By the early 1900s basketball was played at about 90 colleges—most of them
located in the East and Midwest. In 1905 teams from the University of
Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin traveled to New York to challenge
Eastern League champion Columbia University. Columbia’s “Blue and White
Five” defeated both Midwestern teams, and the idea of an intercollegiate
championship was born. By 1914 more than 360 colleges offered basketball,
and the sport had spread heavily into the Midwestern states.
In 1915 the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (AAU), the NCAA,
and the YMCA formed a committee to standardize rules, and during the next
ten years a number of regional conferences were formed. Games between top
regional teams were sometimes awarded national champion status by the
press, but an official championship tournament was still many years away.
Travel and scheduling difficulties and continued regional rule differences
slowed the organization of a tournament that could impartially produce a
national champion.
The first national collegiate tournament was held in Kansas City, Missouri,