How was basketball played in 1891

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

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.

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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First Game of Basketball Played in Springfield

December 21, 1891

First Game of Basketball Played in Springfield

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PRIMARY SOURCE: Rules, 1891

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Dr. James Naismith's original 13 rules for basketball:

The object of the game is to put the ball into your opponent's goal. This may be done by throwing the ball from any part of the grounds, with one or two hands, under the following conditions and rules.

1. The ball may be thrown in any direction with one or both hands.

2. The ball may be batted in any direction with one or both hands.

3. A player cannot run with the ball. The player must throw it from the spot on which he catches it, allowances to be made for a 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 this rule by any player shall come 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 of the game, no substitute allowed.

6. A foul is striking 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 as 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 no 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 touching it. He has a right to hold it unmolested for five seconds. 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 side.

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 power to disqualify men according to Rule 5.

11. The referee shall be 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 a referee.

12. The time shall be two fifteen-minute halves, with five minutes rest between.

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

From Springfield College: Where Basketball Was Invented

On this day in 1891, the first game of basketball was played at what is now Springfield College. The game was invented by a Canadian, Dr. James Naismith, a versatile athlete, theologian, and physical education instructor, who envisioned "the time when Christian people would recognize the true value of athletics." He designed basketball to occupy a class of disagreeable male students at the Springfield YMCA, who were bored with the calisthenics and children's games in their gym class. The game attracted players and fans almost immediately. By 1936, basketball was included among the sports at the Olympic Games and is now played in 170 countries. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame opened in Springfield in 1968.

Always an avid student, Naismith earned a medical degree from Gross Medical College in 1898.

James Naismith was born in 1861 in rural Ontario. Orphaned at eight, he lived with an uncle, helping with farm work and spending what free time he had with a group of local boys. They wrestled, swung from tree limbs, and played "duck on the rock," a game in which one boy placed a stone on top of a big rock and guarded his "duck" while the others tried to knock it off by throwing stones. This game would later play an important part in the origin of basketball.

In 1883 Naismith entered McGill University in Montreal to study philosophy and theology. He was an active participant in college sports, playing soccer, rugby, lacrosse, and football (British rugby), never missing a game, even though football was thought to be "a tool of the devil," not proper for a "theolog."

During one particularly competitive game of football, Naismith had an epiphany that would change the direction of his life. He later remembered that the player next to him "encountered some difficulty, and losing his temper, made some remarks that, though forceful, are unprintable." Composing himself, the player whispered an apology. The incident made such an impression on Naismith that he became committed to the idea that physical training could be a means of spreading Christianity.

Naismith was an active participant in college sports, playing soccer, rugby, lacrosse, and football (British rugby), never missing a game, even though football was thought to be "a tool of the devil," not proper for a "theolog. "

After graduating from McGill in 1887, Naismith earned a graduate degree in theology. Seeking to combine his athletic talent with his calling to the ministry, he learned that the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) was developing "physical training programs to supplement interests in Bible study, education and social welfare." The School for Christian Workers (later the International YMCA Training School, now Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, was the site of the first course offered for YMCA physical directors.

Naismith enrolled in the training school for the 1890-1891 academic year. He stayed on to teach boxing, wrestling, swimming, and canoeing. Midway through the term, the faculty encountered a problem with a class of men who were preparing to be YMCA administrators. They were required to take an hour of gym class every day; when the weather turned cold, they were "increasingly bored and irritated by the winter regimen of calisthenics, gymnastics, and children's games such as Prisoner's Base. "

"What this generation wanted," wrote Naismith, who at 30 was about the same age as the discontented students, "was pleasure and thrill rather than physical benefits." The head of the department assigned Naismith to "the class of incorrigibles."

They were required to take an hour of gym class every day; when the weather turned cold, they were "increasingly bored and irritated by the winter regimen of calisthenics, gymnastics, and children's games such as Prisoner's Base."

Naismith first tried modifying football, soccer, and lacrosse for indoor play but found that the results were "either too tame or too rough." He began to devise an entirely new indoor ball game. There could be no tackling on a hard gym floor, so the alternative to running with the ball would be to pass it. The scoring system drew on "duck on the rock." In that game, the best players threw the rock in an arc so that it bounced near the duck even if it did not actually hit it. This allowed another turn rather than elimination. Naismith also came up with the idea of a "horizontal goal." He mounted a box at either end of the floor well above the players' heads, so even the best defense could be overcome. Each time the ball entered the box, it would count as a goal.

On December 21, 1891, Naismith nailed a peach basket to the lower rail of the balcony, ten feet off the floor, at either end of the gym. He posted a typed list of 13 rules on the bulletin board and selected two men to be the captains. After they chose sides, Naismith tossed a soccer ball up between the two centers. As he later wrote, "it was the start of the first basketball game and the finish of the trouble with that class."

"it was the start of the first basketball game and the finish of the trouble with that class."

Within weeks, some 200 people were coming to the Springfield Y to watch the daily noontime games. When the students returned home for Christmas vacation, they took the game with them. Basketball quickly spread throughout the U. S. It was not long before international students ensured the popularity of the new game overseas.

Cylindrical wire baskets soon replaced the peach boxes, and in 1894 basketballs were introduced. Three years later, the teams were fixed at five men each, and the first professional league — the six-team National Basketball League — was formed. High schools and amateur athletic clubs embraced the game, and in 1905 the National Collegiate Athletic Association formally recognized it as a permanent winter sport.

James Naismith left Springfield in 1895 to become the physical director of the Denver YMCA. Always an avid student, he earned a medical degree from Gross Medical College in 1898. He did not practice medicine but spent the next 39 years as professor of physical education and chapel director at the University of Kansas. He coached the basketball team there for nine seasons. During World War I, he served for 19 months with a YMCA unit in France. James Naismith died on November 29, 1939, at the age of 78.

If You Go

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield.

A statue of James Naismith can be found on the campus of Springfield College.

Links

Location

This Mass Moment occurred in the Western region of Massachusetts.

Sources

Basketball, by James Naismith (University of Nebraska Press, 1996).

Cages To Jump Shots, by Robert W. Peterson (Oxford University Press, 1990).

Themes

Firsts

Recreation

Sports

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This Day in History December 21, 1891 - First Basketball Game - EADaily, December 21, 2016 - Society. News, USA News

On December 21, 1891, the first ever basketball game was played in the Christian Youth Association Training Center in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. The game was invented by physical education teacher James Naismith.

Among the immediate predecessors of basketball, the children's game “duck on the rock” common in the 19th century in some countries, with which James Naismith was well acquainted, is often cited: throwing a small stone, the player had to hit the top of another, larger one, with it, stone. According to Naismith's biographers, it was at the moment of playing "duck on the rock" in the head of young James that the "concept of basketball" was born in general terms.

The game finally matured when Dr. Naismith began teaching anatomy and physical education at the YMCA International Youth Training College in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith noticed that winter gymnastics classes in the hall seemed too monotonous to students, and decided to occupy them with some new outdoor game of dexterity and coordination that could be played indoors - and relatively small in size. At different ends of the gym, two fruit baskets (in English “basket”, hence the name of the new game) were attached to the balcony that encircled it along the perimeter. The height from the floor to the edge of the balcony turned out to be 3 m 5 cm, which became the standard that is maintained to this day on all basketball courts in the world. The students had to hit the ball into the basket. And so basketball was born.

The first officially recorded basketball game took place on December 21, 1891 - this date is considered the unofficial birthday of basketball. The game was not quite usual from a modern point of view. So, there were 9 people in Naismith's teams (the doctor simply divided the group of his students equally), and they played with a soccer ball. The news of the new sports game spread all over America, and soon the college where Naismith taught began to receive many letters, the authors of which asked to send them the rules of the game.

On January 15, 1892, James Naismith first published the rules of basketball in the Springfield College newspaper The Triangle. In 1892, the first Basketball Rules Book was published, containing 13 clauses, many of which are still in force today. Although in some ways "Naismith's rules" differ from modern ones.

Gradually, the popularity of the new game began to gain momentum. In 1893, the baskets were replaced with iron rings with a net. In 1894, the first official basketball rules were published in the United States. In 189In the year 5, shields were installed and the first official competitions in this sport were held. In 1897, the team was limited to 5 players.

In the 1920s, national basketball federations began to be actively created, and the first international meetings were held. In 1919, a basketball tournament was held between the army teams of the United States, Italy and France.

In 1923, the first international women's tournament was held in France. Teams from three countries took part in it: England, Italy, and the USA. And at 19In 1932, the International Federation of Basketball Associations was established in Geneva.

Basketball: history, rules, inventory, playground

Basketball (from English basket - basket, ball - ball) is an Olympic sport, a sports team game with a ball, the goal of which is to throw the ball into the opponent's basket more times than the opposing team does at the set time. Each team consists of 5 field players.

Contents

• The history of the emergence and development of basketball
• Basketball rules (briefly)
• Basketball field
• Basketball
• Basketball hoop and backboard dimensions
• Refereeing in basketball
• Basketball Federation

The history of the emergence and development of basketball

In 1891, in the United States of America, a young teacher, a native of Canada, Dr. James Naismith, trying to "revive" gymnastics lessons, attached two fruit baskets to the railing of the balcony and suggested throwing soccer balls into it. The resulting game only remotely resembled modern basketball. There was no question of any management, the players threw the ball to each other and then tried to throw it into the basket. The team that scored the most goals won.

A year later, Naismith developed the first rules of basketball. The very first matches under these rules caused their first changes.

Gradually, basketball from the United States penetrated first to the East - Japan, China, the Philippines, and then to Europe and South America. After 10 years at the Olympic Games in St. Louis, the Americans organized a demonstration tour between the teams of several cities. The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was formed in 1946. The first match under her auspices took place on November 1 of the same year in Toronto between the Toronto Huskies and New York Knickerbockers. At 19In 1949, the association merged with the US National Basketball League to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 1967, the American Basketball Association was created, which for a long time tried to compete with the NBA, but merged with it 9 years later. Today, the NBA is one of the most influential and well-known professional basketball leagues in the world.

The International Amateur Basketball Federation was founded in 1932. The federation includes 8 countries: Argentina, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania. Sweden, Czechoslovakia. Based on the name, it was assumed that the organization would only lead amateur basketball, however, at 1989, professional basketball players received admission to international competitions, and the word "amateur" was removed from the name.

The very first international match took place in 1904, and in 1936 basketball entered the program of the Summer Olympic Games.

Basketball rules (briefly)

The rules of the game of basketball changed several times until 2004, when the final version of the rules took shape, which is considered relevant to this day.

1. Basketball is played by two teams. Usually a team consists of 12 people, 5 of which are field players, and the rest are considered substitutes.
2. Basketball dribbling . Athletes in possession of the ball must move around the field, hitting the floor with it. Otherwise, "carrying the ball" will be counted, and this is a violation of the rules in basketball. Accidentally touching the ball with a body part other than the hand is not considered a foul, unlike purposeful play with the foot or fist.
3. A basketball game consists of 4 periods or halves, but the time of each half (play time) varies depending on the basketball association. So, for example, in NBA a match consists of 4 halves of 12 minutes each, and in FIBA ​​each such half lasts 10 minutes.
4. Short breaks are provided between periods, and between the second and third periods, the break time is increased.
5. The ball thrown into the basket can bring a different number of points to its team. If the ball is scored during the free throw, the team earns 1 point. If the ball is thrown from an average or close distance (closer than the 3-point line), then the team is given 2 points. A team earns three points if the ball is scored from behind the three-point line.
6. If in regular time both teams scored the same number of points, then a 5-minute overtime is assigned, if it ended in a draw, then the next one is assigned and so on until the winner is determined.
7. 3 Second Rule - A rule that prohibits any player from the attacking team from being in the free throw area for more than three seconds.
8. Basketball Two Step Rule . The player is only allowed to take two steps with the ball, after which he must either shoot or pass.

Basketball field

The playing field for basketball has a rectangular shape and a hard surface. The surface of the site must not have any bends, cracks or any other deformations. The size of the basketball court must be 28 meters long and 15 meters wide (standard). The height of the ceiling must be at least 7 meters, and on professional sites, ceilings are raised to a height of 12 meters and above. The lighting on the field must be designed so as not to interfere with the movement of the players and must evenly cover the entire court.

Until the end of the 60s, tournaments could be organized outdoors. However, now basketball games are played only in closed areas.

Site marking

1. limit lines. Pass along the entire perimeter of the site (2 short front lines and 2 long side lines).
2. Central line. It is drawn from one side line to another and at the same time it is parallel to the front lines.
3. The central zone is a circle (radius 1.80 m) and is located exactly in the center of the basketball field.
4. Three-point lines are semi-circles with a radius of 6.75 m, drawn to the intersection with parallel (front) lines.
5. Free throw lines. The free-throw line is drawn 3.60 m long parallel to each end line so that its far edge is located at a distance of 5.80 meters from the inside edge of the end line, and its middle is on an imaginary line connecting the midpoints of both end lines.

Basketball

The basketball is spherical, painted an approved shade of orange, and has a pattern of eight inlays and black stitching.

Basketball hoop and backboard dimensions

The height of the basketball hoop from the floor level is 3. 05 meters (standard). The diameter of the basketball hoop ranges from 45 cm to 45.7 cm. The ring itself must be painted bright orange. A special net with a length of 40-45 cm is attached to the ring. The basketball hoop is located at a distance of 15 cm from the backboard.

The shield to which the ring is attached also has a number of important parameters. Basketball backboard size: width - 1.8 m, height - 1.05 m. Modern basketball backboards are made of tempered glass.

Refereeing in basketball

At the basketball game there are:

• senior judge and judge;
• timekeeper;
• secretary;
• assistant secretary;
• operator 30 seconds.

Judge uniform:

• gray shirt;
• long black trousers;
• black basketball shoes.

Basketball Federation

• International Basketball Federation (FR. Fédération Internationale de Basketball, FIBA).

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