James Naismith

Profession: Basketball Inventor

Nationality:

Biography: James Naismith was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, chaplain, sports coach, and innovator. He is best known for inventing the game of basketball in 1891 and is also credited with writing the original basketball rulebook.

Born in Canada, Naismith studied physical education at McGill University in Montreal before moving to the United States. In 1891, while he was a physical education teacher at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, Naismith was tasked with creating a new indoor game to keep athletes active during the winter months. The game he developed was basketball, a sport that combined elements of various games and emphasized skill and agility over brute strength.

Naismith's original game had 13 basic rules and involved throwing a soccer ball into peach baskets, which were used as goals. The baskets were nailed to the lower railing of the gymnasium balcony, ten feet above the floor. This height was arbitrarily chosen and became the standard for basketball hoops. The game quickly gained popularity, and by 1936, basketball was introduced as an Olympic sport.

In addition to creating basketball, Naismith pursued a medical degree, believing that the best way to care for athletes was to understand medicine. He received his medical degree in 1898 from Gross Medical College in Denver, Colorado.

After inventing basketball, Naismith held several teaching and administrative positions. He moved to the University of Kansas in 1898, where he served as a professor and the first basketball coach. Naismith is the only coach in the university's history with a losing record.

He lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of both the National Invitation Tournament (1938) and the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship (1939).

Born: November 6, 1861
Birthplace: Almonte, Ontario, Canada
Star Sign: Scorpio

Died: November 28, 1939 (aged 78)
Cause of Death: Brain hemorrhage