If I asked you what James Naismith, a fast food restaurant, and a local college all have
in common, would you know the answer?
Here's a clue. They all have something to do with a sport that was invented a hundred and
thirty years ago.
Well, if you guessed basketball, you're correct.
And producer Dave Fraser shares the story of how it all started right here in Springfield.
On the campus of Springfield College, the legacy of Dr.
James Naismith is well represented, and rightfully so.
The game he invented happened just a short distance down the road in the city's Mason
Square neighborhood, inside this building, which has now been replaced by a fast food
restaurant.
Across the street, a monument with plexiglass panels helped tell the story of how this
30-year-old physical education instructor created an athletic distraction that became a
worldwide phenomenon.
From the very humble origins of this game, it has grown into a worldwide phenomenon with
immense popularity.
One of the most popular sports in the world.
Judd Gymnasium is the oldest building on campus, and it houses the school's history
museum that includes many artifacts and memorabilia related to Naismith and the early
development of the game.
As the legend has it, you know, put up these peach baskets that didn't have an opening
underneath them. After each time that a basket was scored, they would go back and
have a jump ball.
The ball would obviously be stuck in the peach basket.
It took a while until someone had the brilliant idea "Let's, you know, let's cut
the bottom of this."
Since that initial introduction in December of 1891, the game quickly spread throughout
New England and around the world, impacting the lives of hundreds of millions across all
ages. Basketball is now played around the globe by both men and women.
Naomi Graves is the head coach for the Springfield women's basketball team.
She fell in love with the sport at an early age.
Well, I think it was the backyard fun that you played with both men and women, girls and
boys, you know, in the backyard.
Everybody had a basketball.
I grew up where basketball was really important, up in western Massachusetts.
And then in my high school, it was -- it was --I was tall and I liked the game.
So, Coach identified me as a player and taught me the game.
And then before you knew it, I fell in love with it.
The game played today is probably not what Naismith envisioned when he first introduced
it. His initial 13 rules included no dribbling, dunking, or three pointers.
There was no shot clock, but goaltending was legal.
Naismith himself recalled that first game in a 1939 radio interview that aired on WOR AM
in New York City.
The boys began tackling, kicking, and punching in the clinches.
Before I could pull them apart, one boy was knocked out, several of them with black eyes
and one had a dislocated shoulder.
Something had to be done.
The rules would be modified to include dribbling and fouls, and other changes would
evolve throughout the years.
In 1892, less than a year after Naismith created the sport, Smith College Gymnastics
instructor Senda Berenson introduced the game to women's athletics and by 1905,
basketball was officially recognized as a permanent winter sport.
Charlie Brock is in his 24th season as the coach of the men's basketball team at
Springfield College.
You know, the game has changed so much in the 40 plus years, forty five years I've been
involved in it.
And part of that's rule changes and part of that's the way the game is played and the
athleticism and the skill set of the players, certainly today.
It isn't something we talk about daily, but the kids know and feel the impact of the fact
that they're playing at the birthplace of basketball, and it's got a somewhat of a
mystique to it.
The reach of the game is very, very wide.
I know over the years when I've spoken with basketball players here -- I'm in my twenty
third year of teaching -- and I've gotten to know a number of the players.
And uniformly, they feel a, you know, a great sense of joy and pride of playing the game at
the place where it started.