How was basketball played back then

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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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

The 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.

Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

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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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How Has Basketball Changed Over 125 Years? Here Are The 13 Original Rules | by NBA Referees

Today is a special day in the history of basketball. On this day, December 21st, in 1891, the first basketball game was played in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Created by Canadian-born Dr. James Naismith, basket ball, had 13 original rules. The sport has evolved and modified in many ways over the past 125 years, but today’s rules have the same fundamental principles as Naismith intended in 1891.

Dr. James Naismith earned his degree in Physical Education from McGill University before departing to America in 1890. Later that year, he enrolled at Springfield College in Massachusetts, known at the time as the YMCA Training School. During his second year of graduate school, Naismith attended a Psychology of Play seminar taught by Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick, the superintendent of physical education at the College. Gulick tasked the attendees with creating a non-violent game that could be played indoors during the cold winter months. The original intention of the new game was to keep restless students in shape in between the fall and spring sports seasons.

In the fall of 1891, after modifying several other sports including a childhood game called duck on a rock, basket ball was born. Originally, basket ball had 13 rules and was played with two peach baskets as goals. There was only 1 point scored in the first game in Springfield.

One of the biggest differences between Naismith’s game 125 years ago and basketball today is that the original game had no dribbling. Players had to throw the ball from the spot on which they caught it, allowing the man in motion catching the ball just a few steps. Another difference was that if either team committed three consecutive fouls, it counted as a “goal” for the opponent. Although this rule no longer exists, if either team commits five fouls in a quarter, the offending team is in the penalty and the fouled team has the opportunity to shoot free throws.

Although, the game has greatly advanced — now played in over 200 countries — from its first days in 1891, the authenticity of Naismith’s original idea has endured. See the original 13 rules below:

1. The Ball may be thrown in any direction by one or both hands.

2. The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands (never with the fist).

3. 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 man who catches the ball when running, if he tries to stop.

4. The ball must be held by the hands; the arms or body must not be used for holding it.

5. No shouldering, holding, pushing, tripping, or striking in any way the person of an opponent shall be allowed; the first infringement of the rule by any player 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 game, no substitute allowed.

6. A foul is striking at the ball with the fist, violation of rules 3, 4, and such as described in rule 5.

7. If either side makes three consecutive fouls it shall count a goal for the opponents (consecutive means without the opponents in the meantime making a foul. )

8. 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 not touch or disturb the goal. If the ball rests on the edges, and the opponent moves the basket, it shall count as a goal.

9. When the ball goes out of bounds it shall be thrown into the field of play by the person first touching it. In case of a 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 that team.

10. 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 the power to disqualify men according to rule 5.

11. The referee shall be the 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 the referee.

12. The time shall be two 15-minute halves, with 5 minutes rest between.

13. The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winner. In case of a draw, the game may be by mutual agreement, be continued until another goal is made.

The history of basketballs

What balls are played now and how did it happen?

What balls are played now and how did it happen?

YOU THINK WHY WE DO NOT PLAY A FOOTBALL OR A VOLLEYBALL? WHICH BALL DID IT ALL START WITH?

In 1891, James Naismith invented basketball. Then the game was very different from ours. For example, there was a bottom in the baskets and every time after a hit, the ball had to be taken out. Then they also played football ...

B 1891 James Naismith invented basketball. Then the game was very different from ours. For example, there was a bottom in the baskets and every time after a hit, the ball had to be taken out. Then they also played football...

Anyone who has ever tried to play basketball with a football knows that this is not the best thing to do. It is inconvenient to handle it in gears and lead. Therefore, 3 years after the first game, the first basketball was invented.

This ball was made of leather strips with a rubber bladder inside and was sewn up with threads on the outside.

By 1929, it was improved: the laces were hidden, and the shape itself was changed for a better and more predictable rebound.

In 1937 the lacing disappeared from basketballs, and in 1942 the balls were already similar to ours, they were no longer sewn and they kept their shape better.

Perhaps this had a strong influence on the development of the game, because even in the 50s dribbling was very far from ours. Most of the players then skillfully dribbled with only one hand and very rarely used transfers.

Until the late 1990s, leather was the main material used for balls in professional leagues, but since then it has been increasingly replaced by synthetic materials.

In 2020 there are already balls for every taste and color: plain, multi-colored, small, large, rubber, leather, weighted, recycled plastic and other modern materials.

What balls are currently played:

Mini basketball (under 13s) uses a size 5 ball with a diameter of approximately 70 centimeters and a weight of around 0.48 kg.

Women's basketball uses size 6, diameter 73 cm, weight 0.55 kg.

In men's basketball - size 7, with a diameter of 77 cm and a weight of 0.61 kg.

There is also an exception - 3x3 basketball, where they play with a special ball, which is like a size 6 in diameter, but weighs like a size 7. This was done on purpose so that it would be less affected by the wind outside.

Fun Fact

Since 1970, the NBA has only been played with Spalding balls, but from the 2020-21 season, new Wilson balls will be played.

Playground collaborated with Wilson to make their own ball based on the Wilson Evolution. This ball uses an advanced microfiber coating to help give the ball the best touch feel for all dribbling enthusiasts. Balls can be purchased exclusively at the Streetball store.

The Wilson x Playground ball is available exclusively from the Streetball store.

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Playing in the cage and on the hippodrome, teams of Indians and painted redheads. This is how basketball was born - Metta Physics

1891-1946

Basketball was born in 1891; it took more than 50 years to grow up further. The sport appeared humbly and self-consciously as a solution to the crisis of the physical education curriculum in one of the schools. Then, as it spread from its epicenter in Springfield, Massachusetts, the first leagues began to form. Of course, "league" is a pretty fancy term for this early, hectic period. Local tournaments appeared first; then regional, in which the teams did not always have a common opinion about the rules; there were touring teams that wandered around the country in search of absolutely any matches; and occasional attempts to bring some order into a sea of ​​chaos, all against the backdrop of low, very low salaries, seismic shifts in playing styles, and a drive to be recognized as a legitimate professional sport. But while it's easy to skip the decades between "eureka!" James Naismith and the formation of the NBA, yet it was a turbulent and vibrant time. There was an infernal spirit of competition in those who played basketball at that time, the courage to love a sport that practically did not excite anyone else, and, albeit slowly, but the desire to develop the game.

James Naismith, Patriarch of the Peach Basket It didn't evolve from another game; it was given to people in Springfield, Massachusetts. And his Moses, his legislator, was James Naismith, a Canadian physical education teacher, in an attempt to captivate his students. In the fall of 1891, Naismith was a teacher at the YMCA International Youth Training College in Springfield. Naismith was an adherent of the so-called "muscular Christianity", the doctrine that physical fitness and cleanliness of the body is the key to the salvation of the soul. During a harsh New England winter, Naismith's classes were limited to an indoor gymnasium. The only approved activities there were gymnastic exercises - that's still a pleasure. Tensions mounted, classes became more and more restless. There was no other choice - it was necessary to act.

1937-50

Structure: In 1937, the MBC christened itself with a national basketball league (becoming a fifth professional league with a similar name), and led sports, despite sports, despite sports, despite sports, despite the sports the fact that the league teams were located in small towns in the Midwest. Sensing an opportunity, a group of hockey team owners formed the Basketball Association of America (BAA) in 1946 in hopes of filling empty arenas with basketball teams when hockey teams played away, and by taking control of major cities to force the NBL into a possible merger.

GROUNDS: These hockey arenas were the main strength of the BAA and the trump card that led to the formation of the NBA. Professional basketball in the 1940s still had image problems, and NBL clubs were not welcome in the major national arenas, which was not the case with college teams. The BAA changed everything by opening big arenas like Madison Square Garden and Chicago Stadium to the pros. In 1948, four NBL teams moved to the BAA, and the following year, the weakened NBL formally merged with the BAA to form the NBA. Since the NBA's official history, the BAA has been considered the league's progenitor, and the NBL's contributions are often overlooked, but the best players and teams in the early years of the NBA came from the NBL side.

STYLE OF PLAY: In 1937, the center throw-in after every goal was abolished. This both speeded up the game and forced the big men to learn basketball skills in order to keep their place in the team. Big men began to be more involved in the attack, and the average height of the players as a whole increased, for the first time offensive rebounds and putbacks became an integral part of the game. As is usually the case, the old schoolers did not like the innovations, there were demands to raise the ring higher or even completely remove the shields to eliminate rebounds.

INNOVATION: If the advent of the movie camera was preceded by an endless stream of zootropes, strobes and praxinoscopes, then the jump shot was one of those inventions that came at once, but preliminary instructions were scattered around the world. The first ingredient was the one-handed on-the-go throw used by Stanford star Hank Luisetti in the mid-30s. But Louisetti's feet barely left the ground on the throw, and it would be more accurate to say that the real jump shot was invented independently and almost simultaneously by several players in the country, including Mayer "Whitey" Skoog of Duluth, Minnesota, and Kenny Sailors of rural Wyoming. But it wasn't until "Jumping Joe" Fulks led the BAA in scoring in his first season that the cast with his name finally gained national recognition. Within a decade, the "jumper" became the best weapon of the modern player.

Early touring, ethnic, and other teams

The early pro leagues were often such garbage that the best teams in the country did not participate in principle, preferring to play individual games on their own traveling around the country like on tour. Often playing over 100 games a year, the touring bands were among the best teams of the era, while blurring the lines between entertainment and sports. For some, touring was for financial reasons: teams like the Original Celtics could earn more than if they played in the regional leagues. But for other teams, usually made up of members of certain minorities, this nomadic lifestyle was the only option available. Like much of American society in the early twentieth century, these teams fell into ethnic and religious rifts. But they also fell under perverted stereotypes, working both as a marketing ploy and as a means of asserting ethnic pride.

« Buffalo Germans »

Shrouded in mystery, this band of creepy teenagers from Upstate, New York were forced to tour due to geographical isolation. Founded in 1895 at the German YMCA in Buffalo, the team has become legendary as it once won 111 games in a row, but this achievement is somewhat belittled by the quality of opponents: teams from the YMCA (junior Christian colleges), college teams and local amateurs (their epic winning streak was finally interrupted by a fellow pro team at 1911 year). The defining feature of the team was sadism. In an era when teams typically scored 20 points per game, the Germans smashed their opponents mercilessly, winning by 111-17, 104-8, and 104-13, and Hobart College once flew 134-0.

" Original Celtics "

Founded in 1914 as the New York Celtics, the team was originally made up of Irish teenagers from the Hell's Kitchen names along with Irish roots, picking up local stars like Joe Lapchik (Czech), Nat Holman (Jew) and Henry "Dutch" Denert (yep, Dutch). The Celtics became the most famous pro team at 1920s, both touring and playing in multiple leagues. In their prime, they are estimated to have won 90% of their matches and finished one season 193-11-1 (tie). Known for their prolific ball movement and tenacious defense, the team is often credited with inventing impromptu pass-open twos, defensive exchanges, and back-to-the-rim play.

New York Renaissance

In the early 20th century there were many all-black professional teams, but the first and greatest was the New York Renaissance. They were also better than all the white teams. Founded at 19In 23, the Rens took their name from the Renaissance dance hall in Harlem, where the team played on the dance floor between sets of the local band. After the Great Depression shut down the dance halls in the 1930s, the Rens—who were barred from white player leagues—were forced to play the touring circuit. In 1933, they had an 88-game winning streak, winning-losing balance from 1932 to 1936: 497-58. The Rens became the first professional black team in all sports to win a championship title by winning the World Professional Basketball Tournament 1939 years old They also won in 1943 under the name "Chicago Bears". On the one hand, the Globetrotters are a classic American success story. It began in the late 1920s when six men traveled through the Midwest in the dead of winter in a cramped, unheated Model T Ford, often earning barely enough money to get to the next town. K 19The 50th team has become a national business, playing in front of a record number of spectators on different continents and starring in Hollywood films. On the other hand, the relationship between black players, their white audience, and Jewish owner-promoter Abe Saperstein is another typical American twisted tale of friendship, betrayal, and outright exploitation.

But what's usually forgotten under the narrative of rags-to-riches, racial politics, and banana cream pies is that for almost two decades, the Globetrotters were the most amazing basketball team. After several years as second fiddle to the New York Renaissance, the Globetrotters defeated the title defending Rens at World Tournament 19.40 years, and later, with more fanfare, defeat the reigning NBL/BAA champion Minneapolis Lakers George Mikan in 1948 and 1949. Their stars, Rant Pullins and Marquis Haynes, were the best point guards of the era, and big men Goose Tatum and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton could pass and dribble like players half the size. After defeating the Rens, Saperstein enjoyed a virtual monopoly on black talent until 1950, when the NBA finally broke that "tradition" by drafting Chuck Cooper and Earl Lloyd (both under contract with the Trotters) in the NBA draft.

Hong Wah Ques

San Francisco's Chinese-American Hong Wah Quees burst onto the touring charts in 1939, only to disband two years later due to the US entry into World War II. Managed for a while by Abe Saperstein and players on the court were required to speak Mandarin (although they were fluent in English) and matches were played at least once a day, twice on Sundays, and mostly in muhosrans like Grangeville, Idaho, where the match is was advertised with such leaflets, “WAR! Grangeville will be attacked! Chinese invaders! Since none of the players were over six feet tall, the team played up-tempo basketball with excellent passing.

Carlisle Indian College

Founded in 1879, Carlisle School's brutally repressive mission was to "civilize" Native American children, but its unofficial motto was "Kill the Indian, Save the Man." The school had a penchant for sports and produced the most prominent Native American team of the era. In his book Basketball: Its Origins and Development, Dr. Naismith noted that a team's ability to "move fast and play cleverly compensates for the lack of growth." There were also several Indian touring teams, such as the Sioux Travelers Warriors, whose members included top players in the state of North Dakota, Chub Bear and Little Suitcase, tastefully advertised with posters announcing "The Indians are on the warpath...for the scalps of every basketball team." .

Olson's Bad Swedes

The Bad Swedes were founded in 1920 by S.M. "Ole" Olson, who played on Scandinavian stereotypes by creating a team of "giants" with an average height of 2 meters. Based in Cassville, Missouri, with players drawn from the Midwest from amateur players, the Swedes were one of the hardest-working touring teams, playing nearly as many games as the Celtics and Rens. The Swedes mostly played straight-line basketball, but Ole Olson, who was both a player and a manager, was good at passing from behind the back and throwing with one hand, which brought a bit of fuss to the show. At 19In 1935, Olson founded his second touring team, the All American Redheads.

All American Redheads

While most women's teams have so far played 6-on-6 half court, the Red Heads played men's rules against men's teams. Traveling across the country, first in a van and then on a bus, the Red Heads played nearly 200 games in a seven-month season, displaying unusual ball handling skills and amazing shots. At the height of their popularity, they even formed a farming team, The Hillbillies of the Ozarks. If the basketball player's natural hair color was not red, she was required to repaint when she entered the club. The team continued to play right up to 1986 years old, although her popularity has been waning since 1973, when federal law forced universities to found women's sports teams.

House of David

Finally, the strangest of the strangest in an already strange list of touring teams, the Israeli House of David (not Jewish) was a Michigan religious community that founded a semi-professional basketball team in addition to his more famous semi-professional baseball team.

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