James Naismith

“We decided that there should be a game that could be played indoors in the evening and during the winter seasons. On the last day of the teaching assignment, Naismith selected a soccer ball for his new game and asked the janitor if he had two boxes eighteen inches square. If the ball rests on the edge and the opponents move the basket, it shall count as a goal. In order to avoid having the defense 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. The late 1870's and 80's saw a rise in interest in outdoor intercollegiate sports, especially track and field and football, and participation in these games at the YMCA increased. He played lacrosse - a sport occasionally referred to at the time as "legalized murder", and rugby - a hard hitting sport, which some considered a tool of the devil. ”(Glenn Dickey) Naismith laughed and said that such a name would kill any game. If he holds it longer, it shall go to the opponent. Thinking back into his childhood, James remembered the accuracy of aim needed in the game "duck on the rock" and the competitive throwing of balls into empty boxes of baskets in his McGill off-season rugby days. (Glenn Dickey) From there Naismith introduced the game, “basketball,” that would become the most watched and played indoor sport in the world. He made the decision to put sports aside and spend all his time on assignments. But because the game was new, it changed in many ways, and what evolved was considerably different from what Naismith originally planned.