#Hoops September 24

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This month the #Coach4adayChallenge for September is to profile a biography of someone. Today the post is about the man who invented the game of HOOPS or more commonly called Basketball.

Dr. James Naismith who was born during the Civil War in 1861 was was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, sports coach, and inventor of the game of basketball. If it wasn’t for him the biggest part of my life playing and coaching HOOPS would have never occurred.

In his 20’s Naismith attended McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, followed by theological training at Presbyterian College he accepted a job as McGill’s athletic director upon completion of his schooling. In 1891 he accepted a job to work at the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891.

Inventing Basketball

1891 at the Springfield YMCA presented James Naismith with a problem to solve. Keep athletes who were between the end of the football season and the start of the baseball season active without rough play. Naismith developed a basic game that involved throwing a soccer ball into peach baskets. The larger soccer ball, he felt, would slow down play to avoid collisions. He errored in judgement because rough play was occurring when players got near the peach basket or goal.

In order to make the game a little safer and have more action he developed 13 rules. You can find a link to those rules here.

After about ten years some changes began to the rules of the game. Dribbling was introduced in 1901. While Naismith initially wrote that team sizes could range from 3 to 40 players, depending on the size of the floor space, five-player squads became the norm.

Rule changes

Initially, players were not allowed to re-enter the game. The rule was changed in 1920 to allow a player to re-enter the game one time. In 1934, the rule was expanded to allow players to re-enter the game twice, and, in 1945 the rule was finally changed to permit players to return to the game an unlimited number of times.

Originally, the game was played with peach baskets or 18” square boxes hung from the balconies of the running tracks of most indoor facilities. The peach baskets were replaced first by heavy woven wire rims in 1892. Then, a year later, in 1893 cast iron rims were used. Open ended nylon nets were approved for use in 1912. 

The first games were played in two fifteen minute halves. Shortly later this was increased to two 20-minutes halves. There was no provision for extending the game if the score was tied. In fact, the first game ever played ended in a 2-2 tie.

When free throws were introduced in 1894 the free throw line was established at 21 feet from the basket. Anyone could shoot the free throws. This resulted in teams deploying specialized free throw shooters. A year later, in 1895, the free throw line was moved closer, to a distance of fifteen feet from the basket. In 1924, the free throw rule was amended which required the player who was fouled to shoot the free throws.