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Naismith J

ORDERBY-NAME: Naismith, James

OTHER-NAME: None

BIRTH: 6 November 1861, Ramsay Township,  nr. Almonte, Ontario, Canada.

DEATH: 28 November 1939, Lawrence, KA, USA.

CATEGORY: Performing Arts & Sport

DISCIPLINE: Sport  

ASSESSMENT: The importance of his work in basketball  is marked by the naming, after him, of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, MA

LANGUAGE: English

EDUCATION:  McGill University 1883-1890 (AB, then DD in theology)

ACHIEVEMENT: Invented basketball

MAJOR-WORK: None

PARENTS: John Naismith (carpenter); Margaret Young

SPOUSE: Maude Evelyn Sherman; Florence Mae Kinkaid

SIBLINGS:  None

CHILDREN: Five children (by Sherman)

DETAILS:  Both Naismith’s parents died in a typhoid epidemic when he was 9, leaving him to be reared first by a strict and religious grandmother and then by an uncle.  Schooling was interrupted by five years’ working in a logging camp, after which he entered university at the late age of 23. 

During his last year in the postgraduate Protestant seminary attached to McGill University he also directed undergraduate gymnastic classes.   Naismith excelled at sports (he was a star gymnast, lacrosse player and football player) so he decided to mix religion and sports, and joined a two-year course for physical directors at the new <invented baseball at the>YMCA*  training college in Springfield, MA.

Assigned the task of inventing a sport that would be more attractive  than gymnastics  and that would fill the calendar between autumn football and spring baseball, Naismith invented  <invented>basketball*, using a peach basket nailed to the wall at each end of the gymnasium.  In December 1891 the first 9-on-9 game was played by the following original 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, but 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 a man running at good speed.
  4. The ball must be held in or between the hands. The arms or body must not be used for holding it.
  5. No shouldering, holding, pushing, striking or tripping in any way of an opponent. The first infringement of this rule by any person 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 of the game. No substitution shall be allowed.
  6. A foul is striking at the ball with the fist, violations of Rules 3 and 4 and such as described in Rule 5.
  7. If either side make three consecutive fouls it shall count as a goal for the opponents (consecutive means without the opponents in the meantime making a foul).
  8. Goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the ground into the basket and stays there, providing those defending the goal do not touch or disturb the goal. If the ball rests on the edge and the opponents move the basket, it shall count as a goal.
  9. When the ball goes out of bounds, it shall be thrown into the field and played by the first person touching it. In case of 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 them.
  10. The umpire shall be 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 decide when it 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 15-minute halves with five minutes' rest between.
  13. The side making the most goals in that time shall be declared the winners.

New rules were soon adopted,  permitting dribbling (bouncing the ball) and reducing teams to five-a-side (six for women). 

In 1895 (by this time married, with five children) he moved to the Denver YMCA,  took a medical degree in 1898, then moved to take up the first position of physical education instructor at the University of Kansas, where he coached the basketball and track teams.

He also set up the first comprehensive student health program, giving new undergraduates physical examinations and maintaining their health records.

Naismith was a muscular Christian, and in 1916 he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister.  During World War I he spent nineteen months in France, raising morale and moral standards among the troops with sermons and physical exercise.

In 1925 he was naturalized a US citizen.  One of his students succeeded in getting basketball on the program of the Berlin Olympics in 1936.  Funds were raised to send Naismith to Berlin as an honorary guest.  He became honorary President of the International Basketball Federation and famous.   In 1937 he retired from teaching. Two years later almost every American high school and college had a basketball team.

The Journal of Health and Physical Education wrote that he had “built character in the hearts of young men.”   In 2007, he was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame.

EXTRA-CONNECTIONS: None

ONELINER:  James Naismith, inventor of basketball

BIBLIOGRAPHY: American Dictionary of Biography

Wikipedia

http://www.kansasheritage.org/people/naismith.html