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Posted on: June 7, 2024 at 16:01:38 CT
FIJItiger MU
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https://archive.vpr.org/commentary-series/basketball-inventor/
In the winter of 1890 Lambert G.Will was a YMCA director in Herkimer, NY, a little village of 2700. He received a letter from James Naismith of Springfield, Massachusetts, with an idea for a game called "basketball." And Lambert was intrigued: Naismith’s game could be played indoors, perfect for snowy villages like Herkimer.
But when Lambert assembled a group of 18 boys, they found Naismith’s game disappointing: you rolled a medicine ball along the floor to your teammates, and eventually one would throw the ball into a peach basket nailed high up on the wall. The boys thought that rolling the ball was for babies and passes were too easy to block. If someone did make a basket, someone else had to climb a ladder to remove the ball from the peach basket. And nine men on a side was just too many.
So Will made an executive decision: they cut the bottom out of the peach basket and then reinforced the remaining frame with wire. Immediately the game became faster paced and more addictive. Lambert dashed off a letter to Naismith, describing the changes but there was only silence from Springfield.
By late 1891, Lambert had organized the first team, the first league, and he’d standardized the basketball court. He replaced the medicine ball with a bounce-able rugby ball, and players began to perfect the art of dribbling. The peach basket he replaced with a metal hoop forged by the Herkimer blacksmith.
Edited by FIJItiger at 16:04:00 on 06/07/24
In the winter of 1890 Lambert G.Will was a YMCA director in Herkimer, NY, a little village of 2700. He received a letter from James Naismith of Springfield, Massachusetts, with an idea for a game called "basketball." And Lambert was intrigued: Naismith’s game could be played indoors, perfect for snowy villages like Herkimer.
But when Lambert assembled a group of 18 boys, they found Naismith’s game disappointing: you rolled a medicine ball along the floor to your teammates, and eventually one would throw the ball into a peach basket nailed high up on the wall. The boys thought that rolling the ball was for babies and passes were too easy to block. If someone did make a basket, someone else had to climb a ladder to remove the ball from the peach basket. And nine men on a side was just too many.
So Will made an executive decision: they cut the bottom out of the peach basket and then reinforced the remaining frame with wire. Immediately the game became faster paced and more addictive. Lambert dashed off a letter to Naismith, describing the changes but there was only silence from Springfield.
By late 1891, Lambert had organized the first team, the first league, and he’d standardized the basketball court. He replaced the medicine ball with a bounce-able rugby ball, and players began to perfect the art of dribbling. The peach basket he replaced with a metal hoop forged by the Herkimer blacksmith.
Edited by FIJItiger at 16:04:00 on 06/07/24
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