Random Canadian factoid 3 - the invention of Basketball
OK - so maybe this hasn't been universally received around the world in the way that watches have.. but since Toronto are beginning their NBA season tonight against the Washington Wizards (whatever they are), here is the story of the origins of basketball - invented by a Canadian.
James Naismith was the Canadian physical education instructor who invented basketball in 1891. James Naismith was born in Almonte, Ontario and educated at McGill University and Presbyterian Cllege in Montreal. He was the physical education teacher at McGill University (1887 to 1890) and at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts (1890 to 1895). At Springfield College (which was then the Y.M.C.A. training school), James Naismith, under the direction of American phys-ed specialist Luther Halsey Gulick, invented the indoor sport of basketball.
The first formal rules were devised in 1892. Initially, players dribbled a soccer ball up and down a court of unspecified dimensions. Points were earned by landing the ball in a peach basket. Iron hoops and a hammock-style basket were introduced in 1893. Another decade passed, however, before the innovation of open-ended nets put an end to the practice of manually retrieving the ball from the basket each time a goal was scored.
In 1959, James Naismith was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (called the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.)
For those of you who dont regard basketball as a suitably significant contribution to the world, we'll find something else tomorrow!
James Naismith was the Canadian physical education instructor who invented basketball in 1891. James Naismith was born in Almonte, Ontario and educated at McGill University and Presbyterian Cllege in Montreal. He was the physical education teacher at McGill University (1887 to 1890) and at Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts (1890 to 1895). At Springfield College (which was then the Y.M.C.A. training school), James Naismith, under the direction of American phys-ed specialist Luther Halsey Gulick, invented the indoor sport of basketball.
The first formal rules were devised in 1892. Initially, players dribbled a soccer ball up and down a court of unspecified dimensions. Points were earned by landing the ball in a peach basket. Iron hoops and a hammock-style basket were introduced in 1893. Another decade passed, however, before the innovation of open-ended nets put an end to the practice of manually retrieving the ball from the basket each time a goal was scored.
In 1959, James Naismith was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame (called the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame.)
For those of you who dont regard basketball as a suitably significant contribution to the world, we'll find something else tomorrow!
posted by CBC at 6:32 pm
2 Comments:
You come to Canada, where you are exposed to the antics of locals, liquor flowing freely, and women doing crazy, crazy things (ok, so you weren't there Saturday night -Halloween- for much of the craziness, but still), and you choose to blog about basketball??
I don't understand you brits.
(just teasing you, Matt - cool blog!)
He's not a brit, he's irish
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