History of basketball

History of basketball

In early December 1891, Luther Gulick, chairman of the physical education

department at the School for Christian Workers (now Springfield College) in

Springfield, Massachusetts, instructed physical education teacher James

Naismith to invent a new game to entertain the school’s athletes during the

winter season. With an ordinary soccer ball, Naismith assembled his class

of 18 young men, appointed captains of two nine-player teams, and

introduced them to the game of Basket Ball (then two words). Naismith, who

had outlined 13 original rules, dispatched the school jjanitor to find two

boxes to be fastened to the balcony railing at opposite sides of the

gymnasium, where they would serve as goals. The school janitor, however,

only found two half-bushel peach baskets, and the game was played with

these.

The soccer ball and the peach basket soon gave way to specialized

equipment. For example, in the early days the peach baskets were closed at

the bottom, meaning that someone had to climb on a ladder to retrieve the

ball after a made basket. The peach basket wwas later replaced by a metal

rim with a net hanging below, and in 1906 people began opening the netting

to let the ball fall through. Check out the other sport, Baseball, at a

site known for tons of information about the game, MMLB Schedule.The first

basketballs were made from panels of leather stitched together with a

rubber bladder inside. A cloth lining was added to the leather for support

and uniformity. The molded basketball, introduced in about 1942, was a

significant advancement for the sport. The molded ball, a factory-made ball

that had a constant size and shape, offered better reaction and durability,

making play more consistent and the development of individual skills

easier. In Naismith’s original 13 rules, the ball could be batted in any

direction with one or both hands, but it could not be dribbled because

players could not move with the ball. Beginning in 1910 a player could

dribble the ball, but could not shoot after dribbling. It was not until

1916, following heated debate, that players were allowed tto shoot after

dribbling.

Throughout basketball’s history, no part of the game has been more

monitored than the act of fouling an opponent. In basketball’s early days,

a player’s second foul would mean removal from the game until the next

field goal was made. If a team committed three consecutive fouls, the

opposition would be awarded a field goal. Beginning in 1894 players were

given a free throw when fouled. Beginning in 1908 players who committed

five fouls were disqualified from the game. Based on the severity of tthe

foul, the rules were soon amended so that players were awarded either two

shots or one shot plus a bonus shot, which was attempted only if the first

shot was made. The rules also determined that an offensive player could

commit a foul by playing too aggressively.

In 1892 Lithuanian-born physical education teacher Senda Berenson Abbott

introduced basketball to women, at Smith College in Northampton,

Massachusetts. Because it was believed that Naismith’s version of the game

could be too physically demanding for women, Berenson Abbott made the

following changes to the game: The court was divided into three equal

sections, with players required to stay in an assigned area; players were

prohibited from snatching or batting the ball from the hands of another

player; and players were prohibited from holding the ball for longer than

three seconds and from dribbling the ball more than three times.

Basketball’s growth spread in the United States and abroad through Young

Men’s Christian Associations (YMCAs), the armed forces, and colleges. Due

to its simple equipment requirements, indoor play, competitiveness, and

easily understood rules, basketball gained popularity quickly. In May 1901

several schools, including Yale and Harvard universities and Trinity, Holy

Cross, Amherst, and Williams colleges, formed the New England

Intercollegiate Basketball League. The development of collegiate leagues

and conferences brought organization and scheduling to ccompetition, and

formal league play created rivalries. More importantly, collegiate leagues

became a critical training ground for officials.

By the early 1900s basketball was played at about 90 colleges—most of them

located in the East and Midwest. In 1905 teams from the University of

Minnesota and the University of Wisconsin traveled to New York to challenge

Eastern League champion Columbia University. Columbia’s “Blue and White

Five” defeated both Midwestern teams, and the idea of an intercollegiate

championship was born. By 1914 more than 360 colleges offered basketball,

and the sport had spread heavily into the Midwestern states.

In 1915 the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States (AAU), the NCAA,

and the YMCA formed a committee to standardize rules, and during the next

ten years a number of regional conferences were formed. Games between top

regional teams were sometimes awarded national champion status by the

press, but an official championship tournament was still many years away.

Travel and scheduling difficulties and continued regional rule differences

slowed the organization of a tournament that could impartially produce a

national champion.

The first national collegiate tournament was held in Kansas City, Missouri,

in 1937. The teams in this tournament, however, were all from the Midwest.

New York, with a large fan base that generated travel funds, was the site

of the NIT tournament, which wwas the first truly national collegiate

tournament. The first NIT was held at the end of the 1937-38 season.

The NIT was promoted by members of the Metropolitan Basketball Writers

Association—a New York City sportswriters’ group. In 1939 a group of

coaches from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), fearing

Eastern bias, organized and sponsored the first NCAA national tournament.

In this tournament the University of Oregon defeated Ohio State University.

The NCAA took sole control of the organization of its tournament after that

first year. For the next decade, the NCAA and NIT tournaments competed to

become the universally recognized national championship tournament, with

the NCAA eventually winning out.

The NCAA tournament’s original format, used for its first 12 years, divided

the country into eight districts, each with a regional selection committee

sending a team to the eight-team tournament. As the tournament gained

importance, the field gradually enlarged to its present size of 64, made up

of champions from a number of conferences, in addition to other successful

teams.

Professional basketball began in 1896 at a YMCA in Trenton, New Jersey. A

dispute between members of the YMCA team and a YMCA official led to the

players forming a professional team and playing for money. In 1898 a group

of New Jersey newspaper sports editors founded the National

Basketball

League (NBL). The NBL consisted of six franchises from Pennsylvania and New

Jersey. Stars of this league included Ed Wachter, who played in about 1,800

professional games, and Barney Sedran, who played on 10 championship teams

in 15 years.

The Buffalo Germans, a team that won 111 straight games between 1908 and

1911, and the Original Celtics, a team that pioneered many tactics in

basketball, including the development of the zone defense, were

extraordinarily successful professional teams in the early 20th century.

The first successful national professional league wwas the American

Basketball League (ABL), which lasted from 1925 to 1931. The New York

Renaissance, a team made up of black players, dominated the 1930s. The

Rens, as the team was called, were the best team of the era, winning 88

consecutive games during one stretch. Another all-black team with similar

success was the Harlem Globetrotters. The Globetrotters were founded in

1927 as a competitive team, but through the years they became known for

their basketball acrobatics and humorous routines.

Although most basketball players were men, 37 sstates offered high school

varsity basketball for women by 1925, and in 1926 the AAU formed a national

tournament for women’s teams. This enabled women to showcase their

basketball skills after scholastic play was finished, and also to gain

employment at companies that sponsored ttheir own AAU teams. Notable players

from this era of women’s basketball include Babe Didrikson, Alline Banks

Sprouse, and Nera White, who was one of the first two female players

elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1938 the three-court game was

changed to a two-court game, with six players on a team (three on offense

and three on defense). Players were still prohibited from straying from

their assigned areas.

In the mid-1930s another professional league called the National Basketball

League (NBL) was founded, taking the same name as the earlier NBL, which

had ceased operation some years before. In 1946 a group of executives in

New York City formed yet another new professional basketball league, known

as the Basketball Association of America (BAA). This new circuit was a

direct competitor wwith the new NBL, with teams in New York City; Boston,

Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Chicago, Illinois; and Detroit,

Michigan. Just before the 1948-49 season, the four strongest teams in the

NBL—those from Minneapolis, Minnesota; Rochester, New York; Fort Wayne,

Indiana; and Indianapolis, Indiana—joined the BAA. The following season,

the NBL’s six surviving teams also joined the BAA, forming a three-division

league that was renamed the National Basketball Association (NBA). After

the 1949-50 season the NBA reduced its size and established two divisions,

the forerunners to the Eastern and WWestern conferences that were

established after the 1969-70 season.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Minneapolis Lakers, led by center

George Mikan and coached by John Kundla, won five NBA championship titles

(1949, 1950, 1952-1954). In the 1950s guard Bob Cousy and forward Bob

Pettit had the greatest individual impact on professional basketball.

Cousy, nicknamed the Houdini of the Hardwood because of his ball-handling

skills, led the NBA in assists eight straight years (1953-1960) and guided

the Boston Celtics to six NBA titles (1957, 1959-1963). Pettit finished his

career with a remarkable 26.4 points per game (ppg) average while leading

the St. Louis Hawks to appearances in the NBA championship finals in 1957,

1958, 1960, and 1961, with the Hawks winning the title in 1958.

The Celtics dominated the NBA from 1957 to 1969. During this 13-season

period, the team, coached mostly by Red Auerbach, won 11 NBA titles (1957,

1959-1966, 1968, 1969), including 8 consecutively. The Celtics had many

stars, but center Bill Russell was arguably the greatest. In his 13-season

career Russell averaged 15.1 ppg and 22.5 rebounds per game (rpg). Another

dominant center of the time was Wilt Chamberlain. Chamberlain played for

the Philadelphia Warriors, San Francisco Warriors (the team moved west in

1962), Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers. He scored 100 points iin

a single game in 1962 and averaged 50.4 ppg for the 1961-62 season. Neither

record has ever been approached by another player. Top guards of the 1960s

included Oscar Robertson of the Milwaukee Bucks, Jerry West of the Los

Angeles Lakers, and Walt Frazier of the New York Knicks.

The University of California, Los Angeles dominated college basketball from

1963 to 1975. Coached by John Wooden, UCLA won ten national championships

during this time (1964, 1965, 1967-1973, 1975), including seven

consecutively. From 1971 to 1974, UCLA won 88 consecutive games, an NCAA

record. Wooden’s UCLA teams featured great players such as center Bill

Walton, guard Gail Goodrich, forward Jamaal Wilkes, and forward Marques

Johnson. The best player to emerge from UCLA was center Kareem Abdul-

Jabbar, who was born Lew Alcindor. Abdul-Jabbar led UCLA to three straight

NCAA titles from 1967 to 1969. As a professional he led the Milwaukee Bucks

to an NBA title in 1971, and he led the Los Angeles Lakers to five NBA

titles in the 1980s (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988). Known for his famous

sky-hook shot, Abdul-Jabbar played 20 seasons in the NBA and retired as the

league’s leading career scorer, with 38,387 points.

For two decades after its founding, the NBA was the only major professional

basketball league. But in 1967 tthe American Basketball Association (ABA)

was formed. The league became known for the flashy playing style it

encouraged and the distinctive red, white, and blue basketballs it used.

The ABA convinced several NBA players to switch leagues, often for

lucrative contracts. Probably the best player in the ABA was guard and

forward Julius Erving, who later starred in the NBA. The ABA disbanded in

1976, with several of its teams joining the NBA.

In the late 1970s, the NBA experienced difficulty: The game was perceived

as dull, the league’s ticket sales decreased, revenue declined, and

television ratings were as low as they had ever been. In March 1979,

however, two collegiate players, forward Larry Bird of Indiana State

University and guard Magic Johnson of Michigan State University, helped

revive public interest in basketball. The two players, the stars of their

teams, faced each other in the 1979 NCAA championship game, won by Michigan

State. Both players went on to have distinguished NBA careers. In the 1980s

Bird helped revitalize the Boston Celtics franchise, leading the team to

three NBA titles (1981, 1984, 1986). Johnson did the same in Los Angeles,

as he and Abdul-Jabbar guided the Lakers to five NBA championships.

In the late 1980s the Detroit Pistons emerged as a powerhouse team,

featuring stars such as guard Isiah

Thomas and forward Dennis Rodman.

Detroit reached the NBA Finals in 1988, 1989, and 1990, capturing the title

during the latter two years. Increased interest in the professional game

carried over to collegiate basketball as well, as the NCAA tournament

became more popular than ever.

Dramatic changes in women’s basketball occurred in the late 1960s. In 1966

unlimited dribbling became legal, and in 1969 the first five-player full-

court game was played. The five-player form became the official game in

women’s basketball in 1971. Women’s basketball is now pplayed with virtually

the same rules, regulations, and styles as men’s basketball, although the

women use a slightly smaller ball at many levels, including college. With

the changes of the late 1960s, women’s basketball began a period of

tremendous growth, and in 1971 the Association for Intercollegiate

Athletics for Women (AIAW) was founded, offering a national college

basketball tournament for women.

The women’s game gained strength in the late 1970s after a law called Title

IX was increasingly enforced, helping strengthen women’s basketball

programs. The law, passed as part oof the Education Amendments Act of 1972,

prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender in educational

institutions receiving federal aid, meaning that women’s athletic programs

had to be treated as equal to men’s programs. In 1978 the AIAW championship

was televised, and the same yyear a professional league called the Women’s

Basketball League (WBL) made its debut. Featuring eight teams, the league

lasted three years. The AIAW disbanded in 1982, but that same year the NCAA

held its first national championship for women. Three years later, in 1985,

the Basketball Hall of Fame began inducting female coaches, players, and

contributors. These inductees include important pioneers such as Ann

Meyers, who was the first woman to receive a collegiate athletic

scholarship; Carol Blazejowski; Cheryl Miller; Anne Donovan; and Nancy

Lieberman-Cline.

In the 1990s interest in basketball at all levels continued to grow. The

most important figure in this growth was guard Michael Jordan, who is

considered by many to be the greatest player ever. Jordan’s exceptional

basketball skills and flair for entertainment helped keep basketball in the

forefront oof American culture as he led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA

championships (1991-1993, 1996-1998) and led the league in scoring a record

ten times. Other great players of the 1990s included Hakeem Olajuwon,

Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Karl Malone, John

Stockton, and Shaquille O’Neal. Star players of the women’s professional

leagues included Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, Teresa Edwards, Lisa

Leslie, and Jennifer Azzi.

Beginning in the late 1980s, it became increasingly common for the best

male collegiate players to leave college before graduating, as they cchose

to enter the NBA draft hoping to play professionally for large sums of

money. The NBA, while affording young players this opportunity, has tried

to curtail this practice. In 1995 the league enacted a limit on the amount

of money a rookie could earn, called a rookie salary cap, hoping to

discourage players from leaving school.

Following the 1997-98 season NBA owners and players could not agree on

rules regarding a salary cap and several other issues, and the NBA owners

instituted a player lockout. The dispute cancelled all league play until an

agreement was reached in January 1999, resulting in a strike-shortened, 50-

game season followed by a regular playoff schedule and championship series.

Jordan announced his retirement from professional basketball after the

labor dispute was resolved. The San Antonio Spurs, led by David Robinson

and Tim Duncan, won the 1999 NBA title. The Los Angeles Lakers, featuring

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, won the 2000 league championship. Duncan

and Bryant are part of the next generation of superstars that the league

hopes will carry on the legacy of past heroes such as Bird, Johnson,

Barkley, and Jordan.

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