History of basketball

History of basketball

In early December 1891, Luther Gulick, chairman of the physical educationdepartment at the School for Christian Workers (now Springfield College) inSpringfield, Massachusetts, instructed physical education teacher JamesNaismith to invent a new game to entertain the school’s athletes during thewinter season. With an ordinary soccer ball, Naismith assembled his classof 18 young men, appointed captains of two nine-player teams, andintroduced them to the game of Basket Ball (then two words). Naismith, whohad outlined 13 original rules, dispatched the school janitor to find twoboxes to be fastened to the balcony railing at opposite sides of thegymnasium, where they would serve as goals. The school janitor, however,only found two half-bushel peach baskets, and the game was played withthese.

The soccer ball and the peach basket soon gave way to specializedequipment. For example, in the early days the peach baskets were closed atthe bottom, meaning that someone had to climb on a ladder to retrieve theball after a made basket. The peach basket was later replaced by a metalrim with a net hanging below, and in 1906 people began opening the nettingto let the ball fall through. Check out the other sport, Baseball, at asite known for tons of information about the game, MLB Schedule.The firstbasketballs were made from panels of leather stitched together with arubber bladder inside. A cloth lining was added to the leather for supportand uniformity. The molded basketball, introduced in about 1942, was asignificant advancement for the sport. The molded ball, a factory-made ballthat had a constant size and shape, offered better reaction and durability,making play more consistent and the development of individual skillseasier. In Naismith’s original 13 rules, the ball could be batted in anydirection with one or both hands, but it could not be dribbled because

players could not move with the ball. Beginning in 1910 a player coulddribble the ball, but could not shoot after dribbling. It was not until1916, following heated debate, that players were allowed to shoot afterdribbling.

Throughout basketball’s history, no part of the game has been moremonitored 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 nextfield goal was made. If a team committed three consecutive fouls, theopposition would be awarded a field goal. Beginning in 1894 players weregiven a free throw when fouled. Beginning in 1908 players who committedfive fouls were disqualified from the game. Based on the severity of thefoul, the rules were soon amended so that players were awarded either twoshots or one shot plus a bonus shot, which was attempted only if the firstshot was made. The rules also determined that an offensive player couldcommit a foul by playing too aggressively.

In 1892 Lithuanian-born physical education teacher Senda Berenson Abbottintroduced basketball to women, at Smith College in Northampton,Massachusetts. Because it was believed that Naismith’s version of the gamecould be too physically demanding for women, Berenson Abbott made thefollowing changes to the game: The court was divided into three equalsections, with players required to stay in an assigned area; players wereprohibited from snatching or batting the ball from the hands of anotherplayer; and players were prohibited from holding the ball for longer thanthree seconds and from dribbling the ball more than three times.

Basketball’s growth spread in the United States and abroad through YoungMen’s Christian Associations (YMCAs), the armed forces, and colleges. Dueto its simple equipment requirements, indoor play, competitiveness, andeasily understood rules, basketball gained popularity quickly. In May 1901

several schools, including Yale and Harvard universities and Trinity, HolyCross, Amherst, and Williams colleges, formed the New EnglandIntercollegiate Basketball League. The development of collegiate leaguesand conferences brought organization and scheduling to competition, andformal league play created rivalries. More importantly, collegiate leaguesbecame a critical training ground for officials.

By the early 1900s basketball was played at about 90 colleges—most of themlocated in the East and Midwest. In 1905 teams from the University ofMinnesota and the University of Wisconsin traveled to New York to challengeEastern League champion Columbia University. Columbia’s “Blue and WhiteFive” defeated both Midwestern teams, and the idea of an intercollegiatechampionship 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 nextten years a number of regional conferences were formed. Games between topregional teams were sometimes awarded national champion status by thepress, but an official championship tournament was still many years away.Travel and scheduling difficulties and continued regional rule differencesslowed the organization of a tournament that could impartially produce anational 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 siteof the NIT tournament, which was the first truly national collegiatetournament. The first NIT was held at the end of the 1937-38 season.

The NIT was promoted by members of the Metropolitan Basketball WritersAssociation—a New York City sportswriters’ group. In 1939 a group ofcoaches 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 thatfirst year. For the next decade, the NCAA and NIT tournaments competed tobecome the universally recognized national championship tournament, withthe NCAA eventually winning out.

The NCAA tournament’s original format, used for its first 12 years, dividedthe country into eight districts, each with a regional selection committeesending a team to the eight-team tournament. As the tournament gainedimportance, the field gradually enlarged to its present size of 64, made upof champions from a number of conferences, in addition to other successfulteams.

Professional basketball began in 1896 at a YMCA in Trenton, New Jersey. Adispute between members of the YMCA team and a YMCA official led to theplayers forming a professional team and playing for money. In 1898 a groupof New Jersey newspaper sports editors founded the National BasketballLeague (NBL). The NBL consisted of six franchises from Pennsylvania and NewJersey. Stars of this league included Ed Wachter, who played in about 1,800professional games, and Barney Sedran, who played on 10 championship teamsin 15 years.

The Buffalo Germans, a team that won 111 straight games between 1908 and1911, and the Original Celtics, a team that pioneered many tactics inbasketball, including the development of the zone defense, wereextraordinarily successful professional teams in the early 20th century.The first successful national professional league was the AmericanBasketball League (ABL), which lasted from 1925 to 1931. The New YorkRenaissance, a team made up of black players, dominated the 1930s. TheRens, as the team was called, were the best team of the era, winning 88consecutive games during one stretch. Another all-black team with similarsuccess was the Harlem Globetrotters. The Globetrotters were founded in

1927 as a competitive team, but through the years they became known fortheir basketball acrobatics and humorous routines.

Although most basketball players were men, 37 states offered high schoolvarsity basketball for women by 1925, and in 1926 the AAU formed a nationaltournament for women’s teams. This enabled women to showcase theirbasketball skills after scholastic play was finished, and also to gainemployment at companies that sponsored their own AAU teams. Notable playersfrom this era of women’s basketball include Babe Didrikson, Alline BanksSprouse, and Nera White, who was one of the first two female playerselected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1938 the three-court game waschanged to a two-court game, with six players on a team (three on offenseand three on defense). Players were still prohibited from straying fromtheir assigned areas.

In the mid-1930s another professional league called the National BasketballLeague (NBL) was founded, taking the same name as the earlier NBL, whichhad ceased operation some years before. In 1946 a group of executives inNew York City formed yet another new professional basketball league, knownas the Basketball Association of America (BAA). This new circuit was adirect competitor with 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 theNBL—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-divisionleague that was renamed the National Basketball Association (NBA). Afterthe 1949-50 season the NBA reduced its size and established two divisions,the forerunners to the Eastern and Western conferences that wereestablished 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 BobPettit had the greatest individual impact on professional basketball.Cousy, nicknamed the Houdini of the Hardwood because of his ball-handlingskills, led the NBA in assists eight straight years (1953-1960) and guidedthe Boston Celtics to six NBA titles (1957, 1959-1963). Pettit finished hiscareer with a remarkable 26.4 points per game (ppg) average while leadingthe 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-seasonperiod, the team, coached mostly by Red Auerbach, won 11 NBA titles (1957,1959-1966, 1968, 1969), including 8 consecutively. The Celtics had manystars, but center Bill Russell was arguably the greatest. In his 13-seasoncareer Russell averaged 15.1 ppg and 22.5 rebounds per game (rpg). Anotherdominant center of the time was Wilt Chamberlain. Chamberlain played forthe Philadelphia Warriors, San Francisco Warriors (the team moved west in1962), Philadelphia 76ers, and Los Angeles Lakers. He scored 100 points ina single game in 1962 and averaged 50.4 ppg for the 1961-62 season. Neitherrecord has ever been approached by another player. Top guards of the 1960sincluded Oscar Robertson of the Milwaukee Bucks, Jerry West of the LosAngeles Lakers, and Walt Frazier of the New York Knicks.

The University of California, Los Angeles dominated college basketball from1963 to 1975. Coached by John Wooden, UCLA won ten national championshipsduring this time (1964, 1965, 1967-1973, 1975), including sevenconsecutively. From 1971 to 1974, UCLA won 88 consecutive games, an NCAArecord. Wooden’s UCLA teams featured great players such as center BillWalton, guard Gail Goodrich, forward Jamaal Wilkes, and forward MarquesJohnson. 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 Bucksto an NBA title in 1971, and he led the Los Angeles Lakers to five NBAtitles in the 1980s (1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1988). Known for his famoussky-hook shot, Abdul-Jabbar played 20 seasons in the NBA and retired as theleague’s leading career scorer, with 38,387 points.

For two decades after its founding, the NBA was the only major professionalbasketball league. But in 1967 the American Basketball Association (ABA)was formed. The league became known for the flashy playing style itencouraged and the distinctive red, white, and blue basketballs it used.The ABA convinced several NBA players to switch leagues, often forlucrative contracts. Probably the best player in the ABA was guard andforward Julius Erving, who later starred in the NBA. The ABA disbanded in1976, with several of its teams joining the NBA.

In the late 1970s, the NBA experienced difficulty: The game was perceivedas dull, the league’s ticket sales decreased, revenue declined, andtelevision ratings were as low as they had ever been. In March 1979,however, two collegiate players, forward Larry Bird of Indiana StateUniversity and guard Magic Johnson of Michigan State University, helpedrevive public interest in basketball. The two players, the stars of theirteams, faced each other in the 1979 NCAA championship game, won by MichiganState. Both players went on to have distinguished NBA careers. In the 1980sBird helped revitalize the Boston Celtics franchise, leading the team tothree 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 titleduring the latter two years. Increased interest in the professional game

carried over to collegiate basketball as well, as the NCAA tournamentbecame more popular than ever.

Dramatic changes in women’s basketball occurred in the late 1960s. In 1966unlimited dribbling became legal, and in 1969 the first five-player full-court game was played. The five-player form became the official game inwomen’s basketball in 1971. Women’s basketball is now played with virtuallythe same rules, regulations, and styles as men’s basketball, although thewomen use a slightly smaller ball at many levels, including college. Withthe changes of the late 1960s, women’s basketball began a period oftremendous growth, and in 1971 the Association for IntercollegiateAthletics for Women (AIAW) was founded, offering a national collegebasketball tournament for women.

The women’s game gained strength in the late 1970s after a law called TitleIX was increasingly enforced, helping strengthen women’s basketballprograms. The law, passed as part of the Education Amendments Act of 1972,prohibited discrimination on the basis of gender in educationalinstitutions receiving federal aid, meaning that women’s athletic programshad to be treated as equal to men’s programs. In 1978 the AIAW championshipwas televised, and the same year a professional league called the Women’sBasketball League (WBL) made its debut. Featuring eight teams, the leaguelasted three years. The AIAW disbanded in 1982, but that same year the NCAAheld its first national championship for women. Three years later, in 1985,the Basketball Hall of Fame began inducting female coaches, players, andcontributors. These inductees include important pioneers such as AnnMeyers, who was the first woman to receive a collegiate athleticscholarship; Carol Blazejowski; Cheryl Miller; Anne Donovan; and NancyLieberman-Cline.

In the 1990s interest in basketball at all levels continued to grow. Themost important figure in this growth was guard Michael Jordan, who is

considered by many to be the greatest player ever. Jordan’s exceptionalbasketball skills and flair for entertainment helped keep basketball in theforefront of American culture as he led the Chicago Bulls to six NBAchampionships (1991-1993, 1996-1998) and led the league in scoring a recordten times. Other great players of the 1990s included Hakeem Olajuwon,Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley, David Robinson, Karl Malone, JohnStockton, and Shaquille O’Neal. Star players of the women’s professionalleagues included Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes, Teresa Edwards, LisaLeslie, and Jennifer Azzi.

Beginning in the late 1980s, it became increasingly common for the bestmale collegiate players to leave college before graduating, as they choseto enter the NBA draft hoping to play professionally for large sums ofmoney. The NBA, while affording young players this opportunity, has triedto curtail this practice. In 1995 the league enacted a limit on the amountof money a rookie could earn, called a rookie salary cap, hoping todiscourage players from leaving school.

Following the 1997-98 season NBA owners and players could not agree onrules regarding a salary cap and several other issues, and the NBA ownersinstituted a player lockout. The dispute cancelled all league play until anagreement 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 thelabor dispute was resolved. The San Antonio Spurs, led by David Robinsonand Tim Duncan, won the 1999 NBA title. The Los Angeles Lakers, featuringShaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, won the 2000 league championship. Duncanand Bryant are part of the next generation of superstars that the leaguehopes will carry on the legacy of past heroes such as Bird, Johnson,Barkley, and Jordan.

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