Todays History Magazine nr.9 we continue with edition History of Sports nr.2 and will be published in USA home of Basketball.

History of Basketball

In contrast to other sports, basketball has a clear origin. It is not the evolution from an ancient game or another sport and the inventor is well known: Dr. James Naismith.

In 1891, while working as a physical education teacher at the YMCA International Training School (today, Springfield College) in the United States, Naismith was faced with the problem of finding in 14 days an indoor game to provide athletic distraction for the students at the School for Christian Workers After discarding the idea of adapting outdoor games like soccer and lacrosse, Naismith recalled the concept of a game of his school days known as duck-on-a-rock that involved accuracy attempting to knock a duck off the top of a large rock by tossing another rock at it.



Of course it was not exactly as we know it today. The first game was played with a soccer ball and two peach baskets nailed 10-feet high used as goals, on a court just half the size of a present-day court. The baskets retained their bottoms so balls scored into the basket had to be poked out with a long dowel each time and dribbling (bouncing of the ball up and down while moving) was not part of the original game

On November 7, 1896. this was the first known professional basketball game was played in Trenton New Jersey between the Trenton YMCA and the Brooklyn YMCA



The first known basketball team at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Mass 1892

Two years after the first professional basketball game was played six teams for Philadelphia and New Jersey formed the National basketball league(NBL). Shortly after the NBL formed, other leagues began to form all over the Eastern United States including the Philadelphia Basketball League, Eastern League, New York State League, and the Interstate league. Most early basketball leagues never lasted more then a few weeks, the NBL itself only lasted five seasons.



1901 marked a landmark year for the game of basketball as colleges began sponsoring games. At first only a few Colleges participated including Yale, Minnesota, Dartmouth, Columbia, Chicago, Utah, and Navy.
While the Colleges where just setting up the pro leagues came and went, but not all teams were in leagues. Some teams remained independent and would travel the country playing local teams for money, they were known as Barnstormers; some of these teams were the Original Celtics, the SPHA’s, the Buffalo Germans, the Trojans of New York, and two all African American teams, the New York Renaissance Five(or Rens) and the most famous of all the Barnstorming teams, and the only one still in existence today-the Harlem Globetrotters.



The Early Professional teams

The Original Celtics where an offshoot of a team called the New York Celtics, the New York Celtics began in 1914 but ended during world war I. At the end of World War I Jim Furey, and his Brother Tom restarted the team. The Furey’s brought many new concepts to the game of basketball, but their most important  introductions were Zone defense, and the first contracts to any player. Contracts where important because in the early days players would switch teams constantly to whoever paid them the most, and by having contracts the Celtics prevented this. In 1921 the Celtics joined the Eastern league, and beat Trenton in the championship game, the Celtics where not content just sitting around the next year they joined the Metropolitan League. After starting out 13-0 the Celtics left the league due to a lack of competition, they rejoined the Eastern League but again dominated so greatly they couldn’t draw in a crowd so they with drew again.



The SPHA’s or the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association was created by Eddie Gottlieb in 1918, the SPHA’s had one of the most successful runs of all the Barnstorming teams, they attracted fans wherever they went, and they usually beat their competition. They first joined the Philadelphia League, but after that League disbanded they moved to the Eastern League, and once that league disbanded they moved again and again. The team was so popular that people would pay top dollar to see them play, of corse top dollar at this time was $2 dollars.



The Buffalo Germans began play in 1895, and by the time they disbanded had a 792-86 win-loss record, including a 111 game win streak from 1908-1911. The teams’ play was so great in the early days of basketball that in the1904 Olympic Games in St Louis, Missouri they were selected to represent the United States. The Germans would soundly beat all their competition en route to winning the first gold metal in Mens Olympic Basketball History.



Thought-out the 1920s Basketball was a second tier sport, only attended when there wasn’t a hockey or football game. The low attendance in most areas forced teams, and leagues to close down almost monthly, but some persevered. Teams such as the Celtics, Rens, SPHA’s and Germans kept putting on a show wherever they went, but for every successful team; there were 20 failures. But this all changed in 1925 with the creation of the American Basketball League(ABL).

The ABL was a collection of small teams usually owned by small corporations, some of the Early teams included the SPHA’s and the Original Celtics, Soon other teams including the Boston Whirlwinds, and the Cleveland Rosenblum’s joined the league. With most teams being owned by small corporations games where first played sparingly. Half way thought the first season the Celtics dropped out and began Barnstorming again, this left the chase for the first title wide open.
 The Cleveland Rosenblum’s would win the first title. The Next year the Celtics once again rejoined the league as the Brooklyn Original Celtics. The Original Celtics would go on to win the title in both 1927 and 1928 before dropping out of the league again. The Rosenblum’s would go on to win the next two titles in 29, and 30, but with the onset of the great depression they and most of the teams in the league disbanded.



to be continued...