Nov
7
by Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com
James Naismith was born in Ontario, Canada on this day 146 years ago.
While working in physical education at a YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891, Naismith was challenged by a superintendent to create a game that would offer a break from the more physical sports of the day. What he came up with was the game of basketball. So the next time you change the channel because the officials have let a game get too physical and thus made it a free throw shooting contest, remember that Naismith did not conjure the game this way.
After devising the original 13 rules of the game (all eventually compromised by Tim Donaghy along the way) and having two peach baskets nailed to the wall, Naismith presided over the first basketball contest ever played, which ended in a thrilling 1-0 score.
Despite the low score that would only suffice in the Big Ten Conference (just joking), the game of basketball quickly spread at YMCAs throughout the country.
Naismith would later move on to Kansas University (or the University of Kansas as Jayhawks graduate Kirk Hinrich likes to have it) as a professor of education. He would also coach the men’s basketball team and is the only Head Coach in the program’s history to have a losing record.
Despite finishing with a 55-60 record at Kansas, it’s safe to say that Naismith’s contributions to the university are more than Bill Self and his loaded teams primed for losing in the Elite Eight (if not earlier) will ever accomplish.
A modest man who didn’t believe in hype, it would be amazing to get Naismith’s thoughts on the game of basketball today.
Surely, Naismith would be surprised by the gross disregard and loose interpretation of some of his rules, as the NBA and basketball as a whole has become way too physical of a sport rather than the fluid, skill game that it was meant to be.
Naismith may have lost his mind at the fact that most players carry the ball on every dribble and that a travel could probably be called on nearly every possession.
Naismith surely would have struggled with the isolation-style game predicated on one man taking on five.
With all that said and the fact that modern basketball has its problems and may never get back to what it used to be, Naismith would have also been stunned by the vast popularity and global presence of the game.
Sometimes you have to take the bad with the good, and the game of basketball has brought much good and can still bring much more when played the right way.
So while modern basketball may be tough on the eyes and leave purists longing for the golden age of the mid-eighties and early nineties, none of it would be possible without James Naismith.
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by Chris Maynard, chris@hoops4thesoul.com
Great post. Always good to look back the the birth of the game we all have come to love.
Don’t you feel like and idiot for saying it’s more than Bill Self and his team will ever accomplish… Who is the 2008 NCAA National Champions????
ROCK CHALK