James Naismith

. Identical copies are located in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Lawrence, Kansas. Naismith was born on November 6, 1861, in Almonte, Canada West, Province of Canada (now part of Mississippi Mills, Ontario, Canada) to Scottish parents. Despite some sources to the contrary, Naismith never had a middle name and never signed his name with an "A" initial. The "A" was added by someone in administration at the University of Kansas. Naismith spent his days outside playing catch, hide-and-seek, or duck on a rock, a medieval game in which a person guards a large skipping stone from opposing players, who try to knock it down by throwing smaller stones at it. he was a talented and versatile athlete, representing McGill in football, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, and gymnastics. He played centre on the football team, and made himself some padding to protect his ears. He won multiple Wicksteed medals for outstanding gymnastics performances. Naismith earned a BA in physical education (1888) and a diploma at the Presbyterian College in Montreal (1890). From 1888 to 1890, Naismith taught physical education and became the first McGill director of athletics, but then left Montreal to study at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts. Naismith played football during his one year as a student at Springfield, where he was coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg and scored a touchdown in the first exhibition of indoor college football at Madison Square Garden. ==Springfield College: Invention of basketball==

. It used a peach basket attached to the wall. Naismith is credited with inventing basketball. Having been an outstanding football player at McGill University in Montreal, he later decided to become a physical education teacher at McGill University for his three postgraduate years and then went to Springfield, Massachusetts, to study at the YMCA International Training School in the 1890s. Whilst teaching there, Naismith realized he needed to invent an indoor game for the winter due to the weather conditions. After completing the YMCA physical director training program that had brought him to Springfield, Naismith was hired as a full-time faculty member in 1891. At the Springfield YMCA, Naismith struggled with a rowdy class that was confined to indoor games throughout the harsh New England winter, and thus was perpetually short-tempered. Under orders from then head of physical education Luther Gulick, Naismith was given 14 days to create an indoor game that would provide an "athletic distraction"; Gulick demanded that it would not take up much room, could help its track athletes to keep in shape In his attempt to think up a new game, Naismith was guided by three main thoughts. Finally, to further reduce physical contact Naismith decided to make the goal open to all players by placing it high above the player's heads with the plane of the goal's opening parallel to the floor. This made the goal unguardable, giving players an equal opportunity to score. In order to score goals, players would throw a soft, lobbing shot like that which had proven effective in his old favorite game, duck on a rock. For this purpose, Naismith asked a janitor to find a pair of boxes, but the janitor brought him peach baskets instead. Naismith christened this new game Basket Ball The first game of "Basket Ball" was played in December 1891. In a handwritten report, Naismith described the circumstances of the inaugural match; in contrast to modern basketball, the players played nine versus nine, handled a soccer ball, and instead of shooting at two hoops, the goals were a pair of peach baskets: "When Mr. Stubbins brot up the peach baskets to the gym I secured them on the inside of the railing of the gallery. This was about from the floor, one at each end of the gymnasium. I then put the 13 rules on the bulletin board just behind the instructor's platform, secured a soccer ball, and awaited the arrival of the class ... The class did not show much enthusiasm, but followed my lead ... I then explained what they had to do to make goals, tossed the ball up between the two center men and tried to keep them somewhat near the rules. Most of the fouls were called for running with the ball, though tackling the man with the ball was not uncommon." Naismith was a classmate of Amos Alonzo Stagg at the YMCA School, where Stagg coached the football team. They became close friends and Naismith played on the football team and Stagg played on the basketball team. Naismith invited Stagg to play in the first public basketball game on March 12, 1892. The students defeated the faculty 5–1 and Stagg scored the only basket for the faculty. The Springfield Republican reported on the same: "Over 200 spectators crammed their necks over the gallery railing of the Christian Workers gymnasium while they watched the game of 'basket ball' between the teachers and the students. The most conspicuous figure on the floor was Stagg in the blue Yale uniform who managed to have a hand in every scrimmage." By 1892, basketball had grown so popular on campus that Dennis Horkenbach (editor-in-chief of The Triangle, the Springfield college newspaper) featured it in an article called "A New Game", Spalding worked with Naismith to develop the official basketball and the Spalding Athletic Library official basketball rule book for 1893–1894. ==University of Kansas==

The University of Kansas men's basketball program officially began following Naismith's arrival in 1898, seven years after Naismith drafted the sport's first official rules. Naismith was not initially hired to coach basketball, but rather as a chapel director and physical-education instructor. In those early days, the majority of the basketball games were played against nearby YMCA teams, with YMCAs across the nation having played an integral part in the birth of basketball. Other common opponents were Haskell Indian Nations University and William Jewell College. Under Naismith, the team played only one current Big 12 school: Kansas State (once). Naismith is the only coach in the program's history to have a losing record (55–60). However, Naismith coached Forrest "Phog" Allen, his eventual successor at Kansas, who went on to join his mentor in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. When Allen became a coach himself and told him that he was going to coach basketball at Baker University in 1904, Naismith discouraged him: "You can't coach basketball; you just play it." Instead, he was more interested in his physical-education career; he received an honorary PE master's degree in 1910, Through Naismith's association with Baker University Basketball Coach Emil Liston, he became familiar and impressed with Emil Liston's fraternity at Baker University, Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp). As a result, he started the effort to bring a Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter to his University of Kansas (KU). On February 18, 1923, Naismith, intending to bring a SigEp Chapter to KU, was initiated as a SigEp member by national office of the fraternity. Under Naismith's leadership, the University of Kansas Sigma Phi Epsilon chapter was founded and officially Charted on April 28, 1923, with Naismith leading the new 40-member fraternity as "Chapter Counselor". Naismith was deeply involved with the members, serving as Chapter Counselor for 16 years, from 1923 until his death in 1939. During those 16 years as Chapter Counselor, he married SigEp's housemother, Mrs. Florence Kincaid. Members who were interviewed during that era remembered Naismith: "He was deeply religious", "He listened more than he spoke", "He thought sports were nothing but an avenue to keep young people involved so they could do their studies and relate to their community", and "It was really nice having someone with the caliber of Dr. Naismith, he helped many a SigEp." In 1935, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (founded by Naismith's pupil Phog Allen) collected money so the 74-year-old Naismith could witness the introduction of basketball into the official Olympic sports program of the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin. There, Naismith handed out the medals to three North American teams: the United States, for the gold medal, Canada, for the silver medal, and Mexico, for their bronze medal. During the Olympics, he was named the honorary president of the International Basketball Federation. Naismith became professor emeritus at Kansas when he retired in 1937 at the age of 76. In addition to his years as a coach, for a total of almost 40 years, Naismith worked at the school and during those years, he also served as its athletic director and was also a faculty member at the school. In 1939, Naismith suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage. He was interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Lawrence, Kansas. His masterwork "Basketball — its Origins and Development" was published posthumously in 1941. In Lawrence, Naismith has a road named in his honor, Naismith Drive, which runs in front of Allen Fieldhouse. James Naismith Court in Allen Fieldhouse is named in his honor as well. Naismith Valley Park and the dormitory Naismith Hall are also named after him. ==Head-coaching record==

Basketball In 1898, Naismith became the first basketball coach of University of Kansas. He compiled a record of 55–60 and is the only losing coach in Kansas history. Amos Alonzo Stagg, was primarily a football coach, but he did play basketball for Naismith in Springfield, coached a year of basketball at Chicago and had several football players who also coached basketball such as Jesse Harper, Fred Walker and Tony Hinkle. ==Legacy==

and Museum in Springfield, Massachusetts Naismith invented the game of basketball and wrote the original 13 rules of this sport; Naismith was also inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame, the McGill University Sports Hall of Fame, the Kansas State Sports Hall of Fame, FIBA Hall of Fame. The FIBA Basketball World Cup trophy is named the "James Naismith Trophy" in his honor. On June 21, 2013, Naismith was inducted into the Kansas Hall of Fame during ceremonies in Topeka. Naismith's home town of Almonte, Ontario, hosts an annual 3-on-3 tournament for all ages and skill levels in his honor. Every year, this event attracts hundreds of participants and involves over 20 half-court games along the main street of the town. Today basketball is played by more than 300 million people worldwide, making it one of the most popular team sports. Swade's project and eventual success are chronicled in a 2012 ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "There's No Place Like Home" and in a corresponding book, ''The Holy Grail of Hoops: One Fan's Quest to Buy the Original Rules of Basketball''. The University of Kansas constructed an $18 million building named the Debruce Center, which houses the rules and opened in March 2016. Naismith was designated a National Historic Person in 1976, on the advice of the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board In 1991, postage stamps commemorated the centennial of basketball's invention: four stamps were issued by Canada Post, including one with Naismith's name; one stamp was issued by the US Postal Service. Another Canadian stamp, in 2009, honored the game's invention. In July 2019, Naismith was inducted into Toronto's Walk of Fame. On January 15, 2021, Google placed a Google Doodle celebrating James Naismith on its home page in 18 countries, on five continents. ==Personal life==

Naismith was the second child of two Scottish immigrants. On June 20, 1894, Naismith married Maude Sherman in Springfield, Massachusetts. The couple had five children. His first wife died in 1937, and on June 11, 1939, he married Florence Kincaid. He was 78 years old. Naismith died eight months after the birth of the NCAA Basketball Championship, which today has evolved to one of the biggest sports events in North America. Naismith is buried with his first wife in Memorial Park Cemetery in Lawrence, Kansas. Florence Kincaid died in 1977 at the age of 98 and is buried with her first husband, Frank B. Kincaid, in Elmwood Cemetery in Beloit, Kansas. During his lifetime, Naismith held these educational and academic positions: ==See also==