How basketball came to be born

By James Naismith

Friday, February 15, 2008

Editors note: The following is an essay written by James Naismith for the Feb. 13, 1912, edition of The University Daily Kansan.

The game of basket-ball originated partly by the endeavor to create a form of athletic exercise along the line of football and partly by accident,” said Dr. Naismith at the gymnasium today.

“It was while I was at the Springfield Training School in Massachusetts in 1891,” he continued, “that we discovered that the men who had played on the football team were not taking any interest in gymnasium exercise after the season had closed. They had been used to quick action and pitting their wits against their opponents, and the routine work with the dumbbells and Indian clubs was exceedingly irksome to them. The man who was the leader of the class became discouraged and gave it up, and I was invited to take his place.

Courtesy of Spencer Research Library

The first Kansas basketball team played in the 1898-1899 season. James Naismith, far right, was the first coach.

“I realized that the men wanted some sort of a game that would be not only beneficial but also interesting. In other words the men wanted something they could have some fun in. The only thing that I did was to try to find something of that sort.

Tried Dehorned Football.

“At first we tried a form of ‘dehorned’ football, but that was too rough. Next followed soccer and then lacrosse, but none met the requirements of our small gymnasium. One day the question happened to strike me: What makes football rough? and the answer came — the tackling. What makes the tackling? The only way of stopping the man running with the ball. Why not eliminate the running and that would eliminate the tackling? But you can’t play a game and stand still all the while. Then I conceived the idea of letting all the men run except the man with the ball and he would have to pass it before he could run.

“That point settled and experimented with and found satisfactory, the next that came up was the question of goals. An ordinary football goal would be too easy to make, a goal such as was used in lacrosse or soccer would likely be easily torn down by sending the ball into it with great force. I thought of the plan of turning the goal up horizontally so that the ball instead of being thrown in forcibly would have to describe an arc before it entered. I thought at first of placing it about two feet off of the floor and then I realized that all a goal keeper would have to do was to sit on it and it would be impossible for the opponents to score. I then thought of placing it up above the players’ heads.

Peach Baskets, Ergo Basket Ball.

“I went to the janitor and asked for some sort of box. It just happened that he procured a couple of baskets (such as peaches are shipped in) about 18 inches across at the top and tapering down toward the bottom. We nailed these up on the gallery which happened to be just 10 feet high. The name ‘basket-ball’ has clung to the game ever since, and the official height of the goals has remained just 10 feet.

The game was very successful in giving the men indoor exercise and training, and when vacation came in the summer the men went to their various homes all over the United States and carried the game with them.”

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