Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - A Brief History of Basketball

Episode Date: January 17, 2023

On December 21, 1891, a physical education teacher in Springfield, Massachusetts, looking to keep athletes occupied during the winter, hung some peach baskets on the balcony of the gymnasium.  With these peach baskets and an old soccer ball, he created something that revolutionized sports and became one of the most popular games in the world.  Learn more about the history of basketball and how it became a global phenomenon on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/EverythingEverywhere Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On December 21st, 1891, a physical education teacher in Springfield, Massachusetts, looking to keep athletes occupied during the winter, hung some peach baskets on the balcony of the gymnasium. With these peach baskets in an old soccer ball, he created something that revolutionized sports and became one of the most popular games in the world. Learn more about the history of basketball and how it became a global phenomenon on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? Through lines, is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night and how it shaped the world now.

Time travel with us every week on the Thuline podcast from NPR. Most of the sports for which I've covered on this podcast have some sort of origin that dates back to the 17th or 18th century. There was some sort of early version of the game that was played informally, which eventually became more formal. with rules, and then there were organized teams that were formed, and the game was eventually turned professional. Basketball does not have such a story. It was born at a single point in time, and was the creation of a single individual. The game certainly evolved over time, but it was not the creation of centuries of people throwing balls through hoops. Many people think that

basketball had its origins in a Mayan game called Pock to Pock. Pock to Pock did have a ball and a hoop, and the objective was to get the ball through the hoop, however, any similarities between it and basketball ended there. The poct-to-pac hoop was vertical, not horizontal, the ball was much smaller, the court had slanted walls, and the losing team would often be executed. While there were some superficial similarities between the two games, there was no direct link between pock-to-pac and basketball. Basketball was created by James Naismith. Naismith was born in Ontario, Canada, and went to school and later taught physical education, and, and, and at McGill University in Montreal. In 1890, he left Montreal to study at the YMCA International

Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts as a grad student. After a year as a grad student, he was asked to join the faculty in 1891. The last decade of the 19th century was an important time for college sports in the United States. Football and baseball were becoming very popular, and other sports such as track and field were also becoming competitive. The problem was most of these sports were outdoor sports that you couldn't play in the middle of winter. Naismith, now a member of the faculty at the YMCA, was tasked by Dr. Luther Gulloch, the head of the physical education department, with creating a game that could keep athletes busy during the winter. He was given a deadline of 14 days to come up with this new game.

What he created involved two peach baskets that were attached to either end of the gymnasium balcony and a soccer ball. He originally asked the janitor for wooden boxes, but peach baskets were all that he had. He told his class of 18 students that the only objective was to give. the ball into the basket. They were divided into two groups of nine and played the first basketball game on December 21st, 1891. As Naismith later described it, quote, I showed them two peach baskets I'd nailed up on each end of the gym, and I told them that the idea was to throw the ball into the opposing team's peach basket. I blew the whistle and the first game of basketball began, end quote.

The result of the first game was one to nothing. The game was a far cry from the modern game of basketball. For starters, at first, the peach basket didn't have a hole in the bottom. Every time a point was scored, the game had to be stopped so a janitor could remove the ball with a ladder. Furthermore, there were no rules in the first game, which was kind of problematic. He further said, quote, the boys began tackling, kicking, and punching in the clenches. Before I could pull them apart, one boy was knocked out, several of them had black eyes and one had a dislocated shoulder. It certainly was murder. After that first match, I was afraid that. they'd kill each other, but they kept nagging me to let them play, so I made up some new rules,

end quote. So he created 13 rules for the game to avoid the game turning into murder ball. The original copy of Naismiss's 13 rules sold in 2010 for $4.3 million. One of the big differences between the original game to today is that you couldn't walk, run, or dribble the ball. You had to pass it without moving, sort of like Ultimate Frisbee. There were no free throws. If a team committed three fouls in a row, the opponents were awarded a point. When Naismith got feedback from his class, which played the first game, the reviews were rather mixed.

One said, Harumph, another new game. When it came to giving the new game a name, the first suggestion was the Naismith game. Naismith, however, said, quote, we have a ball and a basket. Why don't we call it basketball? And so it was. The game made incremental changes. In 1894, Naismith asked the Spalding Corporation to create a special basketball so that they wouldn't have to use soccer balls anymore.

The first basketball looked more like a round version of an American football with laces. In 1906, customized basketball hoops with a metal ring, backboards, and a cloth net were introduced. One big question that you might have is, why did this particular made-up game end up becoming such a hit? Perhaps the biggest thing it had going for it was that it was invented at the YMCA International Training School. The game was spread through the extensive network of YMCA facilities throughout the world. Less than one month after the first game, Naismith wrote an article for the National YMCA newsletter, The Triangle, which outlined the 13 rules of basketball.

On March 12, 1892, the first public game took place in Springfield, Missouri, and there were 200 people in attendance to watch, which, if you think about it, was rather amazing, considering that absolutely no one in attendance knew anything about the game. In 1893, the first basketball game was played in Europe. The game was then taken by YMCA representatives to places as far away as China, Japan, and Persia. The game continued to spread as it moved beyond YMCA's to college campuses and club teams. As early as 1892, women were already playing basketball.

It was introduced at Smith College by a physical education instructor by the name of Senda Berenson. In fact, the Boston Globe noted in 1893 that it was, quote, a very fair feminine substitute for football. On February 9, 1895, the first intercollegiate basketball game took place between Hamlin University and Minnesota State. The game isn't actually recognized by the NCAA because it used Naismus' original 9-V-9 format. The first 5-on-5 game took place on January 18, 1896, between the University of Iowa and the University of Chicago. The first women's intercollegiate match also took place in 1896 between Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley. I should note that

despite women playing basketball, almost from the very beginning, another sport was created around the same time just for women. In 1892, a women's physical education instructor by the name of Clara Bear from New Orleans asked Naismith for a copy of the rules. She actually misread the rules and ended up creating a new set of rules for women's basketball. These rules were sent the next year to Martina Bergman-Austenberg, a Swedish physical education coach in Britain who codified a new set of rules and changed the hoop to a single metal ring. She dubbed the game Netball, which was explicitly designed for women. Netball is still very popular in Commonwealth countries today, and in some countries it's actually more popular than basketball with women. I remember having heard of netball for the

very first time when I was in New Zealand, and I had no idea that it even existed. In 1898, the first Professional Basketball Association was founded, the National Basketball League. It consisted of six teams from the northeastern United States, the New York Wanderers, the Trenton Nationals, the Millville Glassblowers, the Bristol Pile Drivers, the Camden Skeeters, and the Pennsylvania Bicycle Club. In 1904, the game was a demonstration sport at the St. Louis Olympics. The other thing which was responsible for the growth of the game was the First World War. American soldiers brought the game with them to Europe during the war. In 1919, just after the war ended, the inter-allied games took place with France, the United States, and Italy.

One of the biggest decades for basketball was the 1930s. In 1932, the International Basketball Federation, or FIBA, was established as the international governing body for the sport. In 1936, for the first time, men's basketball became a medal event at the Berlin Olympics. The United States won the first of what would be seven consecutive gold medals. In 1939, the NCAA hosted its first national championship in basketball. The winner of the first tournament was the University of Oregon who defeated the Ohio State. The first tournament only had eight teams. Professional basketball didn't have much luck in the first half of the 20th century. The original National Basketball League folded after five years. It was revived in 1937 with Goodyear Firestone and General Electric as the league owners.

A rival professional league, the Basketball Association of America, was formed in 1946. This league was actually established by the owners of major ice hockey arenas in the Northeast and Midwest United States. But a real success didn't come until 1949, when the BAA absorbed the failing NBL to form the newly named National Basketball Association, or NBA. While there were a few black players in the initial NBL as far back as 1902, in particular Harry Liu, the first black professional basketball player who played for the Pawtucket

Athletic Club, there were none when the NBA was formed in 1949. The NBA didn't integrate until after professional football and baseball, with the first black player, Earl Lloyd, being drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1950. Basketball was at this time, how shall I say, rather slow. Scoring was low, and the game was dominated by centers. The NBA was at the forefront of rules changes to increase offense and the pace of the game. In 1951, the free throw lane, also called the paint, was extended to reduce the impact of centers, and it was further expanded in 1954.

In 1954, a 24-second clock was established to quicken the pace of the game and increase scoring. In the late 50s in 1960s, the NBA was dominated by the Boston Celtics, who won 11 championships from 1957 to 1969. The American Basketball Association, a competitor to the NBA, was established in 1967. They had a short run until they merged with the NBA in 1976. Four teams from the ABA, the New York Nets, the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers, and the San Antonio Spurs all became part of the NBA. 1976 also saw the introduction of women's basketball to the Olympics, with the first two gold medals being won by the Soviet Union. And the first year of the women's NCAA basketball tournament was in 1982.

Perhaps the biggest change in the game took place in the 1979-1980 season of the NBA, the introduction of the three-point shot. The three-point line had been experimented with before in a very limited basis, and it was also used during the short run of the ABA. However, the adoption by the NBA made it a legitimate part of the game. It was adopted by the FIBA in 1984, the NCAA in 1986, and the Olympics in 1988. One of the biggest changes to basketball over the last several decades has been the internationalization of the game. For over a century, the United States dominated the game in international competition.

When they didn't win international tournaments like the World Cup or the Olympics, it was usually because the top American players simply didn't want to play. At the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, the United States won the bronze medal, which was their worst performance ever. In response, in 1992, they assembled the greatest basketball team in history, dubbed the Dream Team. It was the first time that professional basketball players were allowed to play, and the team consisted of 11 Hall of Famers and Christian Leitner.

Leitner was added to the team so there would be a at least one amateur player. Since then, other countries have been getting better and better, and the talent gap between the United States and the rest of the world has closed considerably. Spain, Australia, Argentina, France, Serbia, Slovenia, Lithuania, and other countries have all been able to consistently field very good teams. The top league in Europe is the Euroleague, which has 18 teams and plays a double round-robin schedule. Many of the top European teams are actually owned by elite football clubs, including FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich. The last four most valuable player awards in the NBA were all born outside of the United States,

and there's a very good chance it'll be five in a row at the conclusion of the 2023 season. Basketball has become very popular in many countries where you wouldn't expect it, including the Philippines and Mongolia. Today, basketball is big business. The NBA is the third largest professional sports league in the world in terms of gross revenue. It also is the third most popular sport worldwide, just behind cricket, in terms of fan base, with 2.2 billion people. In the course of my travels,

I found that the NBA was often the only American professional sport that was reported on. It's actually a remarkable story that such a popular game all came about because one physical education instructor hung up peach baskets in a gymnasium to keep athletes busy in the winter. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily

is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. Today's review comes from listener Nolan for Life over on Apple Podcasts in the United States. They write, My Favorite Daily Listen. I'm nowhere near part of the Completionist Club, but I'll get there.

I listen while delivering food on my bicycle. I'm a pro wrestling fan like you, Gary. So if I get my five-star review on your show, my question is, who's your favorite wrestler of all time, and what's your favorite match? Thanks, Nolan for Life. I'm happy to keep you company on your bike deliveries.

As for my favorite wrestler, I think you've got to go with the 16-time world champion, the nature boy Rick Flair. As for the greatest match, I don't know if it's actually a great wrestling match, but certainly the most memorable one, and one that I rewatch at least once a year, is the 1998 Hell and a Sle match at King of the Ring between Mick Foley and The Undertaker.

There has never been a match like it before, and for good reason, there will never be one like it again. 25 years later, it's still astonishing to watch. Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostagram, you two can have it read on the show.