| The history of basketball is much easier to | | | | and the US. The US servicemen took the sport |
| trace than other sports. It is clear that | | | | overseas with them in WWII and the history of |
| Dr. James Naismith is credited with creating | | | | basketball became global. |
| basketball and much of basketball history. | | | | |
| Dr. Naismith, born in 1861 in Ontario, Canada | | | | U.S. colleges accepted the game and began to |
| first came up with the concept of basketball | | | | have it as a standard college sport. College |
| during his youth school days in the area | | | | basketball history took off around the late |
| where he played a game that involved knocking | | | | 1890's and the first college game began at |
| a rock off an object by attempting to throw | | | | the Madison Square Garden in New York. |
| another rock at it. The game obviously | | | | |
| evolved from there and began the history of | | | | Professional basketball history first began |
| basketball. | | | | when the National Basketball League was |
| | | | created in the late 1800's around 1898. The |
| Mr. Naismith taught at the YMCA School in | | | | league however did not last and was broken up |
| Springfield, Massachusetts in 1891, where the | | | | after 5 years providing a rough start to |
| sport of basketball was created. He was faced | | | | basketball history. The break up just led to |
| with a problem of finding a sport that could | | | | a number of random leagues forming themselves |
| be played indoors during the harsh | | | | in the early 1900's and each was very loosely |
| Massachusetts winters. He needed to come up | | | | organized. Ironically enough the first super |
| with a game that could be played in and | | | | team was the Celtics but they were from New |
| outdoors and one that adopted a sense of | | | | York City not Boston. The famous Harlem |
| skill and not just brawn. He first developed | | | | globetrotters were also founded around this |
| the game by involving a soccer ball and two | | | | time in 1927 and hold a place in basketball |
| peach baskets, who would have ever thought | | | | history as being the most entertaining of |
| basketball history, could come from a soccer | | | | basketball teams. |
| ball. | | | | |
| | | | It wasn't until 1949 that two professional |
| In addition to creating basketball Dr. | | | | basketball leagues the NBL and the BAA merged |
| Naismith became a medical doctor focused on | | | | to create what we all know now as the |
| sports science and was a minister. Naismith | | | | National Basketball Association or the NBA. |
| watched his sport grow to become one of the | | | | The Boston Celtics dominated the NBA from the |
| world's most popular sports that saw its | | | | late 1950s through the 1960s. By the 1960s, |
| entrance in the Olympics in 1936 at Berlin | | | | professional teams had formed throughout the |
| and he fixed himself a spot in basketball | | | | United States and basketball was a mainstream |
| history. | | | | powerhouse. Players such as Wilt |
| | | | Chamberlain, Bill Russel and Kareem |
| The history of basketball began with teams of | | | | Abdul-Jabar all became household names that |
| five and was the sports standard by 1897. | | | | drew millions to watch them play as they all |
| The sport became popular to both men and | | | | found a spot in basketball history. |
| women and began to spread throughout Canada | | | | |