The First Basketball Game

Unlike many sports whose beginnings developed gradually and are difficult to trace to one specific moment, basketball has a remarkably well-documented origin. The sport was created by Dr. James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891, and even the date of the first game is known: December 21, 1891.

Naismith was born in Canada to Scottish immigrant parents. By 1891, he was teaching physical education at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, the institution that later became Springfield College. During the harsh New England winter, physical education director Dr. Luther Gulick asked Naismith to develop an indoor activity that would keep students active and help track-and-field athletes remain in condition.

There was another important requirement. The new sport needed to be safer than many of the rough outdoor games of the era. Gulick wanted something competitive and physically demanding, but with less violent contact and a reduced chance of injury. Naismith was given approximately two weeks to develop a solution.

What emerged from that assignment was an entirely new sport.

One of Naismith's inspirations came from a childhood game known as "Duck on a Rock." In that game, a large stone—the "duck"—was placed on another rock, stump or similar object. Players attempted to knock it from its perch by throwing smaller stones at it.

The game required more than simply throwing as hard as possible. A successful player needed accuracy and a soft, arcing toss. Naismith later incorporated that idea into basketball. Instead of throwing a ball directly at a target with maximum force, players would attempt to loft it into a goal positioned above them.

Naismith chose an association football, or soccer ball, for his new game. It was large enough to be handled easily and considerably safer to throw around a gymnasium than a harder ball.

For goals, two peach baskets were attached to the gymnasium balcony. The baskets were placed approximately 10 feet above the floor. Raising the goals was intentional. Naismith had observed that many injuries in other sports occurred near the goal, where offensive and defensive players converged. By placing the target overhead, he hoped to reduce violent collisions around it.

The original peach baskets were closed at the bottom. Every successful basket therefore stopped the game while the ball was retrieved. At first this required someone to climb up and remove it. Later, holes were placed in the bottoms and a long pole could be used to push the ball back out. Open-ended nets eventually made the process considerably easier.

Modern dribbling did not exist in Naismith's original game. A player who possessed the ball generally had to remain where he caught it and pass or shoot. A player who caught the ball while moving was allowed enough momentum to come to a stop.

This rule was another attempt to make the new sport safer. Instead of defenders attacking a ball carrier who was running at full speed, the game was designed to emphasize passing, positioning and movement away from the ball.

The first basketball game was played on December 21, 1891, at the YMCA International Training School in Springfield. There were nine players on each team, considerably more than the five players used by modern basketball teams.

The game consisted of two 15-minute halves. Because passing was the primary method of moving the ball and players were still learning the unfamiliar rules, scoring was almost nonexistent.

The final score was 1-0.

William R. Chase scored the only basket in the history-making game, reportedly making the shot from approximately 25 feet away. That single goal made Chase the first known scorer in basketball history.

The game bore only a distant resemblance to modern basketball. There was no dribbling, the baskets were closed, players used a soccer ball, and possession frequently became a physical struggle as students adjusted to Naismith's restrictions on running and contact.

Naismith governed the experiment with 13 rules. Those rules formed the foundation from which the modern game developed.

You can also see the dedicated original 13 rules of basketball and the original players page.

Despite the 1-0 score of the first game, basketball quickly became popular among students at the Springfield YMCA. The simplicity of the equipment made the sport particularly easy to reproduce. A ball, two goals and an indoor playing area were essentially all that was needed.

YMCA students and instructors carried the game with them to other schools and YMCA facilities. Within roughly a year, versions of basketball were being played outside Springfield, and within only a few years the activity had begun developing into an organized competitive sport.

The equipment also evolved rapidly. Peach baskets eventually gave way to iron rims and nets. Early netted goals could still be closed at the bottom, requiring the ball to be removed manually after a successful shot. Eventually the obvious solution—an open-ended net—allowed the ball to fall through freely.

Specially designed basketballs also replaced the soccer ball. Early basketballs were typically brown before orange became the standard because it was easier for players and spectators to see.

Modern basketball hoops bear little resemblance to the peach baskets that hung from the Springfield gymnasium balcony, but the basic idea of a goal 10 feet above the floor remains one of the most recognizable features of Naismith's original game.

Over the years, an alternate theory concerning basketball's origins has occasionally appeared. The theory centers on Lambert G. Will, a YMCA director in Herkimer, New York.

Beginning in the 1950s, some suggested that Will may have developed a form of basketball before Naismith's first game. One piece of evidence frequently mentioned is an early photograph of a Herkimer basketball team. The ball in the photograph reportedly contains a reference to "91-92," leading some to speculate that the team may have existed during the same period in which Naismith was developing his game.

That does not, by itself, establish that basketball was invented in Herkimer before December 1891. More importantly, Will himself does not appear to have claimed that he invented basketball. Members of his family have also acknowledged Naismith as the game's inventor.

There is evidence that Will and Naismith communicated about the developing sport. Will may have offered suggestions as the rules and equipment evolved. Exactly which ideas originated with him is much less certain.

More expansive versions of the Herkimer story have credited Will with major developments ranging from passing and dribbling to rims, nets and court design. Those claims are difficult to reconcile with the extensive documentation surrounding Naismith's work in Springfield.

The most reasonable interpretation is that Will may have contributed ideas during basketball's early development, as many YMCA instructors did, while the creation of the game itself remains firmly associated with James Naismith and Springfield in December 1891.