James Naismith was born in Almonte, Ontario, Canada on Nov. 5, 1861. He was a student of physical education in Montreal before moving to the United States.
He was always interested in taking care of the body and soul. He became acquainted with the YMCA and left for Massachusetts where there was an International Training school in Springfield.
During one very cold winter in 1891 he was asked to create an indoor activity for the youth and had only two weeks to invent one. He remembered a game he played as a boy called "duck on a rock" where a person would guard a large rock when rocks were thrown trying to knock it over.
He located two peach baskets, hung them 10' off the floor and had players try to throw a ball into the basket. The original ball was a soccer ball and there was a bottom on the basket.
After his training in Massachusetts he moved to Colorado and became the director of the YMCA there. He also obtained a medical degree from Colorado Medical School at the same time.
He served in the Kansas Infantry from 1914-1917 and became an american citizen in 1925.
Now to Kansas, my home state, he became the first basketball coach for the University of Kansas. He was the athletic director until 1937. He died in 1939 and is buried in Lawrence, Kansas.
He received many posthumous honors in the world of sports. Basketball made it's debut in the Olympics in 1936.
I think he would be impressed with the 64 team "March Madness" that we enjoy today.
Linking with ABC WEDNESDAY
Linking with ABC WEDNESDAY
Ann
