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How old was james naismith when he invented basketball
How old was james naismith when he invented basketball
Where Basketball was Invented: The History of Basketball
Where Basketball Originated
It was the winter of 1891-1892. Inside a gymnasium at Springfield College (then known as the International YMCA Training School), located in Springfield, Mass., was a group of restless college students. The young men had to be there; they were required to participate in indoor activities to burn off the energy that had been building up since their football season ended. The gymnasium class offered them activities such as marching, calisthenics, and apparatus work, but these were pale substitutes for the more exciting games of football and lacrosse they played in warmer seasons.
James Naismith, The Person Who Invented Basketball
The instructor of this class was James Naismith, a 31-year-old graduate student. After graduating from Presbyterian College in Montreal with a theology degree, Naismith embraced his love of athletics and headed to Springfield to study physical education—at that time, a relatively new and unknown academic discipline—under Luther Halsey Gulick, superintendent of physical education at the College and today renowned as the father of physical education and recreation in the United States.![]()
As Naismith, a second-year graduate student who had been named to the teaching faculty, looked at his class, his mind flashed to the summer session of 1891, when Gulick introduced a new course in the psychology of play. In class discussions, Gulick had stressed the need for a new indoor game, one “that would be interesting, easy to learn, and easy to play in the winter and by artificial light.” No one in the class had followed up on Gulick’s challenge to invent such a game. But now, faced with the end of the fall sports season and students dreading the mandatory and dull required gymnasium work, Naismith had a new motivation.
Two instructors had already tried and failed to devise activities that would interest the young men. The faculty had met to discuss what was becoming a persistent problem with the class’s unbridled energy and disinterest in required work.
During the meeting, Naismith later wrote that he had expressed his opinion that “the trouble is not with the men, but with the system that we are using.
” He felt that the kind of work needed to motivate and inspire the young men he faced “should be of a recreative nature, something that would appeal to their play instincts.”
Before the end of the faculty meeting, Gulick placed the problem squarely in Naismith’s lap.
“Naismith,” he said. “I want you to take that class and see what you can do with it.”
So Naismith went to work. His charge was to create a game that was easy to assimilate, yet complex enough to be interesting. It had to be playable indoors or on any kind of ground, and by a large number of players all at once. It should provide plenty of exercise, yet without the roughness of football, soccer, or rugby since those would threaten bruises and broken bones if played in a confined space.
Much time and thought went into this new creation. It became an adaptation of many games of its time, including American rugby (passing), English rugby (the jump ball), lacrosse (use of a goal), soccer (the shape and size of the ball), and something called duck on a rock, a game Naismith had played with his childhood friends in Bennie’s Corners, Ontario.
Duck on a rock used a ball and a goal that could not be rushed. The goal could not be slammed through, thus necessitating “a goal with a horizontal opening high enough so that the ball would have to be tossed into it, rather than being thrown.”
Naismith approached the school janitor, hoping he could find two, 18-inch square boxes to use as goals. The janitor came back with two peach baskets instead. Naismith then nailed them to the lower rail of the gymnasium balcony, one at each end. The height of that lower balcony rail happened to be ten feet. A man was stationed at each end of the balcony to pick the ball from the basket and put it back into play. It wasn’t until a few years later that the bottoms of those peach baskets were cut to let the ball fall loose.
Naismith then drew up the 13 original rules, which described, among other facets, the method of moving the ball and what constituted a foul. A referee was appointed. The game would be divided into two, 15-minute halves with a five-minute resting period in between.
Naismith’s secretary typed up the rules and tacked them on the bulletin board. A short time later, the gym class met, and the teams were chosen with three centers, three forwards, and three guards per side. Two of the centers met at mid-court, Naismith tossed the ball, and the game of “basket ball” was born.
Here's the history of basketball—from peach baskets in Springfield to global phenomenon
James Naismith, a Canadian American physical educator and innovator, invented the game of basketball in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891 to keep his students active during the winter. The game was an immediate success and the original American sport spread instantly to other colleges and YMCAs. Naismith is pictured here with his wife Maude Evelyn Sherman Naismith.
Photograph via Agefotostock / Alamy Stock Photo
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The nets used by athletes to dunk the ball and score points in the beloved game of basketball evolved from peaches, or rather the baskets used to collect peaches.
That’s what a young athletic director ultimately used on a cold day back in 1891 for a new game he created to keep his students engaged.
James Naismith was a 31-year old graduate student teaching physical education at the International YMCA Training School, now known as Springfield College, in Springfield, Massachusetts when students were forced to stay indoors for days due to a New England storm. The usual winter athletic activities were marching, calisthenics, and apparatus work but they weren’t nearly as thrilling as football or lacrosse which were played during the warmer seasons.
James Naismith, the creator of basketball, stands with the 1899 University of Kansas basketball team.
Photography via Florida Historical 1A / Alamy Stock Photo
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Naismith wanted to create a game that would be simple to understand but complex enough to be interesting. The game had to be playable indoors, and it had to accommodate several players at once.
The game also needed to provide plenty of exercise for the students, yet without the physicality of football, soccer, or rugby since those would threaten more severe injuries if played in a confined space. (See 100 years of football in pictures.)
Naismith approached the school janitor, hoping he could find two square boxes to use for goals. When the janitor came back from his search, he had two peach baskets instead. Naismith nailed the peach baskets to the lower rail of the gymnasium balcony, one on each side. The height of that lower balcony rail happened to be 10 feet. The students would play on teams to try to get the ball into their team’s basket. A person was stationed at each end of the balcony to retrieve the ball from the basket and put it back into play.
The first game ever played between students was a complete brawl.
Two boys stand on the first basketball court in the gymnasium of the School for Christian Workers, Springfield, Massachusetts, 1900s.
Photograph via. Hulton Archive/Getty Images
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“The boys began tackling, kicking and punching in the crunches, they ended up in a free for all in the middle of the gym floor before I could pull them apart,” Naismith said during a January 1939 radio program on WOR in New York City called We the People, his only known recording. “One boy was knocked out. Several of them had black eyes and one had a dislocated shoulder.” Naismith said. “After that first match, I was afraid they'd kill each other, but they kept nagging me to let them play again so I made up some more rules.”
The humble beginnings of the only professional sport to originate in the United States laid the foundation for today’s multi-billion-dollar business. The current National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) March Madness college basketball tournament includes the best 68 of more than 1,000 college teams, stadiums that seat tens of thousands of spectators and lucrative television contracts.
Details of the original 1891 copy of the rules of "Basket Ball" are presented at Sotheby's auction house December 3, 2010 in New York City. The two-page document sold for $4.3 million.
Photograph by Chris Hondros, Getty Images
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Original rules of the game
Naismith didn’t create all of the rules at once, but continued to modify them into what are now known as the original 13 rules. Some are still part of the modern game today. Naismith’s original rules of the game sold at auction in 2010 for $4.3 million.
In the original rules: The ball could be thrown in any direction with one or both hands, never a fist. A player could not run with the ball but had to throw it from the spot where it was caught. Players were not allowed to push, trip or strike their opponents. The first infringement was considered a foul. A second foul would disqualify a player until the next goal was made.
But if there was evidence that a player intended to injure an opponent, the player would be disqualified for the whole game.
Umpires served as judges for the game, made note of fouls and had the power to disqualify players. They decided when the ball was in bounds, to which side it belonged, and managed the time. Umpires decided when a goal had been made and kept track of the goals.
If a team made three consecutive fouls, the opposing team would be allowed a goal.
A goal was made when the ball was thrown or batted from the grounds into the basket and stayed there. If the ball rested on the edges, and the opponent moved the basket, it would count as a goal. When the ball went out of bounds, it was thrown into the field of play by the person first touching it. The person throwing the ball was allowed five seconds; if he held it longer, the ball would go to the opponent. In case of a dispute, an umpire would throw the ball straight into the field. If any side persisted in delaying the game, the umpire would call a foul on that side.
The length of a game was two 15-minute halves, with five minutes' rest between. The team making the most goals within the allotted time was declared the winner. If a game was tied, it could be continued until another goal was made.
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Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.
Left: University of Kansas women's basketball team members Marcella Morewitz, left, and Grace Endicott get expert coaching from Dr. James Naismith, a member of the university's faculty and inventor of basketball, in 1926.
Photograph by George Rinhart, Corbis/Getty Images
Right: Olivia Nelson-Ododa (#20) of the University of Connecticut Huskies goes up for a basket against Digna Strautmane (#45) of the Syracuse Orange during the second round of the 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at the Alamodome on March 23, 2021 in San Antonio, Texas.
UCONN won the game and advanced to the Sweet 16. The Huskies have won more NCAA championships than any other women's basketball team in the nation. They cut down the nets, an honor for the winning team, in 1995, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016.
Photograph by Carmen Mandato, Getty Images
First public gamesThe first public game of basketball was played in a YMCA gymnasium and was recorded by the Springfield Republican on March 12th, 1892. The instructors played against the students. Around 200 spectators attended to discover this new sport they had never heard of or seen before. In the story published by the Republican, the teachers were credited with “agility” but the student’s “science” is what led them to defeat the teachers 5-1.
Within weeks the sport’s popularity grew rapidly. Students attending other schools introduced the game at their own YMCAs. The original rules were printed in a college magazine, which was mailed to YMCAs across the country.
With the colleges’ well-represented international student body the sport also was introduced to many foreign nations. High schools began to introduce the new game, and by 1905, basketball was officially recognized as a permanent winter sport.
The first intercollegiate basketball game between two schools is disputed, according to the NCAA. In 1893, two school newspaper articles were published chronicling separate recordings of collegiate basketball games facing an opposing college team.
In 1892, less than a year after Naismith created the sport, Smith College gymnastics instructor Senda Berenson, introduced the game to women’s athletics. The first recorded intercollegiate game between women took place between Stanford University and University of California at Berkeley in 1896.
With the sport’s growth in popularity, it gained notice from the International Olympic Committee and was introduced at the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis as a demonstration event. It wasn’t until 1936 that basketball was recognized as a medal event.
Women’s basketball wasn’t included as an Olympic medal event until the 1976 Montreal games. (Wheelchair basketball in Cambodia changed these women's lives.)
Jim Baechtold (10) of the New York Knickerbockers and Bob Brannum (18) of the Boston Celtics try to get a rebound in the first quarter of a March 16, 1954 NBA playoff game at the Boston Garden. Others in the picture are Celtics Chuck Cooper (11) center, and Bob Cousy (14) left. In 1950, Cooper was the first Black basketball player drafted by an NBA team.
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As the sport continued its rapid spread, professional leagues began to form across the United States. Basketball fans cheered on their new hometown teams. The first professional league was the National Basketball League (NBL) formed in 1898, comprised of six teams in the northeast. The league only lasted about five years. After it dissolved in 1904, the league would be reintroduced 33 years later in 1937 with an entirely new support system, with Goodyear, Firestone, and General Electric corporations as the league owners, and 13 teams.
While professional sports leagues gained nationwide attention, college basketball was also a major fixture. The first NCAA tournament, which included eight teams, was held in 1939 at Northwestern University. The first collegiate basketball national champion was the University of Oregon. The team defeated Ohio State University.
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Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.
Left: Villagers watch a basketball game at Yangping Village in Yuncheng, Shanxi Province, China on July 12, 2020.
Photograph by Shi Yunping, VCG / Getty Images
Right: Oklahoma City Thunder player Steven Adams (12) rebounds in a game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on April 21, 2019.
Photograph by Greg Nelson, Sports Illustrated / Getty Images
Like most of the United States in the early to mid 1900s, basketball was segregated.
The sport wouldn’t be integrated until 1950 when Chuck Cooper was drafted by the Boston Celtics. Prior to Cooper being drafted there were groups of black teams across the country, commonly known as “the black fives”, which referred to the five starting players on a basketball team. All-black teams were often referred to as colored quints or Negro cagers. The teams flourished in New York City, Washington, D.C., Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Chicago, and in other cities with substantial African American populations. They were amateur, semi-professional, and professional.
Of the more than 1,000 collegiate basketball teams across all divisions of the NCAA, 68 teams play in the annual March Madness tournament. The best college teams from each conference around the country compete for a place in the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four and, ultimately, the national championship. Though basketball might not be played the same way as it was when Naismith invented it—peach baskets have been replaced with nets, metal hoops and plexiglass blackboards—its evolution proves that the game has transcended a century.
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He Invented Basketball: 153 Birth Anniversaries of James Naismith | Summer views | Sports
“ James , go home to dinner,” shouted Margaret Naismith , a Scottish immigrant who came to Canada in search of a new life, through the window of her dilapidated house .
“Ma, now, I’ll just finish playing duck on a rock and run,” answered a 5-year-old boy, who understood that if within ten minutes he didn’t knock down another stone located on a small hill with his stone, he would receive a serious thrashing from his Scottish father John , who was a good 19 years older than his mother and had already taken a sip of his favorite whiskey.
James often won the game "duck on the rock". His secret was that, unlike the other boys who threw their stone at force, trying to hit the target in such a way as to knock it down, Naismith threw his stone along a very high trajectory, as if throwing it. Thus, it was easier for him to aim, and he more often turned out to be the winner. The boy did not yet know how important a discovery he had made, when he could neither write nor even read.
Take care of your ears
Statue of James Naismith in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Springfield, USA. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org / randomduck
Soon his parents died, leaving James an orphan.
Since then, Naismith has spent almost the entire meaningful part of his life under the care of his aunt and uncle - a common story for the middle of the 19th century in Canada.
He attended school, but did not show much success in his studies. Often skipping classes, James played duck on the rock, which was already called a medieval game. Having matured a little, he became addicted to sports - he really liked the competitive moment.
At high school in Almont, Ontario, and later at the country's oldest and finest institution of higher education, McGill University in Montreal, he was into gymnastics, European football, which was just beginning to gain recognition in North America, lacrosse, and of course the same, Canadian football, descended from rugby and so similar to American football, but only slightly different in the nuances of the game.
Even then, Naismith became an innovator and predetermined the development of Canadian football. He was the first to use a helmet to play Canadian football.
A head injury-prone footballer who played center to protect his broken ears made a helmet for himself. It was not forbidden to use it, but, of course, it was not a mandatory element of equipment. A few years later, all players were wearing protective helmets, and after some time this attribute became mandatory, and players were not allowed on the court without it.
Duck on a rock
In 1888 he graduated from McGill University with a bachelor's degree in physical education. And two years later he received a master's degree in the same field at the Presbyterian College of Montreal. A year later, he became McGill University's first "director of athletics," a physical education teacher. But he soon left his alma mater and went to the United States to become a physical instructor at the Youth Christian Association Trade School in Springfield, Massachusetts.
In 1891, hockey was not yet so popular in the United States, so Naismith needed something to entertain his wards, who turned out to be very naughty and uncontrollable.
Trying to get them to do boring indoor gymnastics during the long and freezing winter that is typical of New England was next to impossible.
Realizing that the matter smacks of kerosene, the director of the school gave James Naismith the task of inventing a fun and active game that would develop students physically, require excellent coordination and be interesting for the children. One of the main requirements for the game was modest requests in terms of space - it had to be suitable for a small hall that previously served as standard gymnastic exercises. In addition, the game must be safe so that neither school property nor students are damaged. Naismith had about two weeks to do everything about everything.
The birth of basketball
I had to turn on my ingenuity. After analyzing the then popular Canadian and European versions of football, lacrosse, rugby and baseball, James came to the conclusion that the round and relatively soft ball from European football would be the safest to play.
It remained to figure out how to make sure that the players did not rush around the room with him like mad. Therefore, in the first rules of the game from James Naismith, it was forbidden to run with the ball - it could only be passed - to make passes.
Another source of injury could be an attack on the goal - James was afraid of the standard pile-mala. He solved the problem witty and elegant. The gates were placed in a zone inaccessible to the players - three meters from the parquet of the hall. It would be too easy to hit a wide goal with a round ball, so James decided to use peach baskets as a goal. He arranged them vertically, so that the ball could only be thrown into them in a high arc, just as he once hit the target with his stone in the game "duck on the rock."
The same peach basket, which is pronounced "basket" in English, gave the name to the new sport - "Basket Ball", which later changed to the usual "basketball".
The first game took place in December 1891, a month after James turned 30 years old.
Naismith at that time still had no idea what a gift he made not only to himself and his students, but to the whole world. He probably wouldn't have believed then that a regular game designed to keep students busy during the winter would be played all over the planet, with top athletes making tens of millions of dollars a year just for getting into the basket.
Rules
Initially, there were only 13 rules in basketball, which Naismith posted on the board in front of the hall. Later they were published in the local newspaper Triangle, which soon began to receive letters from readers asking for the secrets of the game - everyone wanted to join the emerging new sport, a game that can be played all year round.
- The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands.
- The ball may be hit with one or both hands in any direction, but never with the fist.
- The player cannot run with the ball. The player must throw the ball from the point at which he caught it, except for a player running at high speed.
- The ball must be held with the hands. You can not use the forearms and body to hold the ball.
- In any case, hitting, grabbing, holding and pushing the opponent is not allowed. The first violation of this rule by any player shall be called a foul; the second foul disqualifies him until the next ball is scored, and if there was an obvious intention to injure the player, then a disqualification for the whole game. It is not allowed to replace a disqualified player.
- Punching the ball is a violation of rules 2 and 4, the penalty is described in rule 5.
- If either side commits three fouls in a row, then a goal is recorded for its opponent (this means that during this time the opponent must not commit a single foul).
- A goal is scored if a ball thrown or bouncing off the floor enters the basket and stays there. Defending players are not allowed to touch the ball or basket while shooting.
- If the ball touches the edge and the opponents move the basket, a goal is scored.
If the ball goes out of bounds, it must be dropped into the field by the first player to touch it. In the event of a dispute, the referee must throw the ball into the field. The thrower is allowed to hold the ball for five seconds. If he holds it longer, then the ball is given to the opponent. If either side tries to play for time, the referee must give them a foul. - The referee must watch the actions of the players and fouls, and notify the referee of three consecutive fouls. He shall have the power to disqualify players under rule 5.
- The Referee must watch the ball and determine when the ball is in play (inbounds) and when it is out of bounds (out of bounds), which side is to be in possession of the ball, and any other action that the referee would normally take.
- The game consists of two halves of 15 minutes each with a break of 5 minutes between them.
- The side that scores more goals during this time period is the winner.
Just six years later, the national championship between the higher educational institutions of the Youth Christian Organization took place, which made an invaluable contribution to the development of basketball, first in the United States, and then throughout the world.
The grandiose success of Naismith's invention is evidenced at least by the fact that in Russia, consider it on the other side of the world, the first official basketball mat took place already at 1906 - just fifteen years after the first ever match, held in the United States. Neither football, nor, especially, hockey could dream of such a thing at the time.
From PE to head coach
In 1899, Naismith was offered the position of director of the physical education department at the University of Kansas. At the same time, a basketball development program was launched, and James became the first ever head coach of a university team.
Kansas is the home of US varsity basketball, the oldest and one of the most successful basketball teams in the United States.
As basketball coach, he served nine full seasons until 1907, when he left that position to focus on his university work. From that time until 1937 he remained at the University of Kansas.
This year, at the age of 75, he retired. And two years later, in 1939, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Naismith left behind five children - three sons and two daughters - and his main brainchild - basketball. Without him, we might not have known Michael Jordan , neither Shaquille O'Neal , nor Andrey Kirilenko .
In 2010, the first copy of the 13 Rules of Basketball by James Naismith was sold at Sotheby's for $4.3 million. Incredible, but true: the inventor of basketball turned out to be a very mediocre coach. He is the only Kansas varsity coach to have more losses than wins, 60 to 55. Everyone else is up.
biography and photos. History of Basketball
In the pre-computer age, children played outdoor games. The Americans had a popular game called "Duck on the Stone." A stone called a duck was placed on a stump or other elevation. A “guard” stood next to him, who was supposed to prevent the rest of the players from trying to knock the “duck” to the ground.
It is said that it was in this game that a physical education teacher from the American city of Springfield saw the concept of the game he called basketball. The man's last name was Naismith. James could not even imagine how popular this game would become all over the world.
Athlete, teacher, inventor
The father of basketball was born in 1861 in Ontario, Canada. Now in the town of Mississippi Mills there is a house-museum of the inventor of basketball. Since childhood, he was fond of sports, especially game types. If hockey had been as popular at the time as it is now, one of the Canadian teams would certainly have a center forward with the name Naismith on his jersey. James played other games during his studies at the University of Montreal, mainly the European (called soccer in North America) and Canadian varieties of football.
The young man had an innovative mindset and an inventive streak. Canadian, like American, football has English rugby as its progenitors and is a super-contact game with increased injury risk.
Violent collisions resulted in permanent damage. James Naismith is credited as the first player to wear a protective helmet. The rules did not forbid it, and other students who feared for the safety of their ability to successfully assimilate the educational material followed his example.
BA in Physical Education
After graduating from university and becoming a certified physical education teacher, James Naismith moved to a neighboring country. Since 1891, he began to work in one of the colleges organized by the YMKA (YMKA - Young Men's Christian Association) - Youth Christian Organization, in the city of Springfield, Massachusetts. In addition to gymnastics, he taught anatomy.
As a teacher, James Naismith was considered a true professional. He sought to introduce students to sports, trying to make classes arouse interest, without turning into boring and monotonous exercises. In summer it was easier to organize outdoor competitions where students played baseball and football, in winter it was more difficult to maintain interest in gymnastics in the gym.
College Principal Dr. Luther Gulick asked James to come up with something. And better not as aggressive as rugby or American football. The creative nature of a talented physical teacher once helped Naismith find a brilliant solution.
A soccer ball and two peach baskets
James Naismith invented the indoor ball game to relieve the boredom of exercising on gymnastic apparatus or the monotonous running around them. They say that the rules of the new game, which are still relevant in general terms today, were formulated within an hour. One day, he noticed how some of the students from the college rugby team were trying to play in the hall, using a large box instead of a gate.
December 1, 1891, dividing the students into two teams, he proposed to hit the ball in a wooden box located on the floor in the center of the gym. The case ended in a bunch of small, when the defenders got up around the box and completely blocked it from the opponents. There was a gallery around the perimeter of the hall, and James got the idea to nail two empty baskets in which fruit was delivered to the college to its opposite sides.
The first basketball players had to hit them with a leather ball for European football, gaining points.
Shield, ring and net
The height at which the baskets were fixed was 305 centimeters, which is preserved in the modern rules of the game. Now it has become more difficult to block the opponent's shots, and the game has become more dynamic. Unnecessary pauses occurred when the watchman, who bore the name Stebbins, had to get the balls that hit the target. Perhaps it was he who first ran out of patience, and he cut out the bottom of the baskets so that the ball itself fell down. Soon, metal rings with a grid were made, which has not fundamentally changed to our time.
The game was so exciting that soon the competition began to attract fans who filled the gallery. In an effort to help the players, they often caught the ball flying past the target and lowered it into the basket. To protect the ring from voluntary helpers, it was necessary to build a shield to which the basket was attached.
Subsequently, he began to play a different role, but still remains one of the most important attributes of basketball.
First Rules
It is very easy to understand what sports game James Naismith invented. Today, a strong metal ring, equipped with a synthetic mesh, must withstand the weight of two-meter athletes, but is still called a basket - in English basket. A modern ball made from a unique polymer is the product of sophisticated technology and high design. It bears little resemblance to the football leather that Naismith found the most suitable, but it is still called in English ball - ball.
The rules of basketball have changed dramatically in over a hundred years, making this game the fastest in the world. But the first, original, were published on January 15, 1892 in the school newspaper, which was called "Triangle". This day is considered the official birth date of basketball, a game that is played by about 300 million people today.
Popularity without advertising
A new game - fast and exciting, which could be played both outdoors and indoors, with simple and understandable rules, was immediately liked by young people.
Naismith was approached from various schools from all over America with a request to send the rules of basketball. At 189In the year 2, a book was published in which they were formulated in 13 paragraphs. The main provisions of the rules are unshakable for the current generation.
A sheet of typewritten rules with Naismith's handwritten heading "Basketball" was sold at auction in 2010 for over $4 million. The father of basketball himself was not engaged in a special "promotion" of the new game and did not use it for self-promotion. The game, the author of which was James Naismith, basketball, is considered the most "American", but the native Canadian received US citizenship only at 1925, 34 years after the resettlement. He pursued his own teaching career, earning several degrees in religion, philosophy, and medicine. But his brainchild quickly gained popularity around the world.
Olympic sport
In 1898, the first professional league appeared in the USA. Players received $2.
50 for home games and $1.25 for away games. Less than a hundred years have passed and one of the star players of the Washington Bullets NBA team, Juwan Howard, signed a contract according to which he received $ 100 million over seven seasons.
The 1904 St. Louis Olympics hosted an exhibition basketball match, and the 1936 Berlin Olympics hosted the first official tournament in which the US team defeated Canada 18-9 in the final. The guest of honor, who made the symbolic throw-in in the final match, was the inventor of the game himself. Invited to the Olympics by the top leadership of the IOC, he was able to appreciate the scope of popularity that his offspring has gained throughout the world.
Lifetime and posthumous glory
Naismith died on November 28, 1939, surrounded by five children and many grandchildren. Perhaps the invention of a steam hammer by James Naismith, as did his English almost namesake James Naismith, or, for example, a sewing machine, would bring him greater prosperity and a more prosperous life.
