43 Facts About James Naismith

James Naismith was a Canadian-American physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball.

James Naismith studied and taught physical education at McGill University in Montreal until 1890 before moving to Springfield, Massachusetts, United States later that year, where in 1891 he designed the game of basketball while he was teaching at the International YMCA Training School.

Seven years after inventing basketball, James Naismith received his medical degree in Denver in 1898.

James Naismith then arrived at the University of Kansas, later becoming the Kansas Jayhawks' athletic director and coach.

James Naismith was born on November 6,1861, in Almonte, Canada West, Province of Canada to Scottish parents.

James Naismith never had a middle name and never signed his name with an "A" initial.

Gifted in farm labor, James Naismith spent his days outside playing catch, hide-and-seek, or duck on a rock, a medieval game in which a person guards a large drake stone from opposing players, who try to knock it down by throwing smaller stones at it.

Orphaned early in his life, James Naismith lived with his aunt and uncle for many years and attended grade school at Bennies Corners near Almonte.

James Naismith played centre on the football team, and made himself some padding to protect his ears.

James Naismith won multiple Wicksteed medals for outstanding gymnastics performances.

James Naismith earned a BA in physical education and a diploma at the Presbyterian College in Montreal.

From 1888 to 1890, James Naismith taught physical education and became the first McGill director of athletics, but then left Montreal to study at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts.

James Naismith played football during his one year as a student at Springfield, where he was coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg and scored a touchdown in the first exhibition of indoor college football at Madison Square Garden.

At the Springfield YMCA, James Naismith struggled with a rowdy class that was confined to indoor games throughout the harsh New England winter, thus was perpetually short-tempered.

Under orders from Luther Gulick, head of physical education there, James Naismith was given 14 days to create an indoor game that would provide an "athletic distraction"; Gulick demanded that it would not take up much room, could help its track athletes to keep in shape and explicitly emphasized to "make it fair for all players and not too rough".

Finally, James Naismith further reduced body contact by making the goal unguardable by placing it high above the player's heads with the plane of the goal's opening parallel to the floor.

James Naismith christened this new game "Basket Ball" and put his thoughts together in 13 basic rules.

James Naismith was a classmate of Amos Alonzo Stagg at the YMCA School, where Stagg coached the football team.

James Naismith invited Stagg to play in the first public basketball game on March 12,1892.

From Springfield, James Naismith went to Denver, where he acquired a medical degree, and in 1898, he joined the University of Kansas faculty at Lawrence.

The family of Lambert G Will, disputing Naismith's sole creation of the game, has claimed that Naismith borrowed components for the game of basketball from Will, citing alleged photos and letters.

James Naismith was not initially hired to coach basketball, but rather as a chapel director and physical-education instructor.

James Naismith is, ironically, the only coach in the program's history to have a losing record.

However, James Naismith coached Forrest "Phog" Allen, his eventual successor at Kansas, who went on to join his mentor in the James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

James Naismith had "strong feelings against segregation," dating back to his World War I-era service in France and his service on the United States-Mexico border, and he strove for progress in race relations through modest steps.

On February 18,1923, James Naismith, intending to bring a SigEp Chapter to KU, was initiated as a SigEp member by national office of the fraternity.

When James Naismith returned, he commented that seeing the game played by many nations was the greatest compensation he could have received for his invention.

In 1937, James Naismith played a role in the formation of the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball, which later became the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics.

James Naismith became professor emeritus at Kansas when he retired in 1937 at the age of 76.

James Naismith was interred at Memorial Park Cemetery in Lawrence, Kansas.

In 1898, James Naismith became the first basketball coach of University of Kansas.

James Naismith is at the beginning of a massive and prestigious coaching tree, as he coached James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame coach Phog Allen, who himself coached Hall of Fame coaches Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp, and Ralph Miller who all coached future coaches as well.

James Naismith invented the game of basketball and wrote the original 13 rules of this sport; for comparison, the NBA rule book today features 66 pages.

The James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, is named in his honor, and he was an inaugural inductee in 1959.

James Naismith was inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame, the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame, the McGill University Sports Hall of Fame, the Kansas State Sports Hall of Fame, FIBA Hall of Fame.

On June 21,2013, James Naismith was inducted into the Kansas Hall of Fame during ceremonies in Topeka.

James Naismith was designated a National Historic Person in 1976, on the advice of the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board.

In July 2019, James Naismith was inducted into Toronto's Walk of Fame.

James Naismith's father, John Naismith, was born in 1833, left Europe when he was 18, and settled down in Lanark County.

On June 20,1894, James Naismith married his wife in Springfield, Massachusetts.

James Naismith was a member of the Pi Gamma Mu and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternities.

James Naismith died eight months after the birth of the NCAA Basketball Championship, which today has evolved to one of the biggest sports events in North America.

James Naismith is buried with his first wife in Memorial Park Cemetery in Lawrence.