BASKETBALL

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 8 (Supplement)

BASKETBALL

In 1891, the physical directors of the United States had come to the conclusion that neither the German, Swedish, nor French system could give a workable plan to hold membership in the Y.M.C.A.’s. We decided, said an American writer, that there ought to be a game which could be played indoors during the winter seasons. The task of inventing it was assigned to me. I first tried to modify some of the games then being played so they would meet our requirements. But I discarded the idea and began to entertain myself with the fundamental principles underlying all games and discovered that in all team games some kind of a ball was being used. The next step was to analyse the principle that football was rough because it allowed the defence to tackle in order to stop the offence. Accordingly, if the offence did not have an opportunity to run with the ball, there would be no necessity for tackling. This is the fundamental principle of basketball.

How It Originated

The next step was to secure some kind of a goal through which the ball could be passed. It then occurred to me that if the ball were thrown in a curve it would neither be necessary nor advisable to put too much force on the ball. I decided that by making the goal horizontal the ball would have to be thrown in a curve, minimising the severe driving of a ball. In order to avoid having the defence congregate 'around the goal, it was placed above their heads, so that once the ball left the individual’s hands, it was not likely to be interfered ■with.

Rules were then made to eliminate all forms of roughness. The manner of putting the ball into play was then considered. Two individuals were selected and took their stations in the middle of the floor. The ball was thrown up so as, to land between them. The nearest approach to the ball selected was the soccer ball. For goals we used a pair of old peach baskets, hanging them at opposite ends of the gymnasium. The game was named “basketball” because of the cone-shaped peach baskets used as goals.