The History of Basketball

Many books have been written about the history of basketball and the history of basketball in the Olympics.  Basketball history can be traced all the way back to 1891. Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith.  Naismith was a Physical Education teacher who was instructed to invent a new indoor game that would keep a group of rowdy students busy through the winter.  He was given only two weeks to invent a new game.  So after a lot of thought Naismith hung two peach baskets and used a soccer ball to create his new game.  That is the point where basketball history began. In 1959, James Naismith was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

The History of Basketball Rules

Basketball rules have changed a great deal and have evolved since the game was first invented.  The first formal rules for the game of basketball were devised in 1892. Initially, players dribbled a soccer ball up and down a court. Points were earned by landing the ball in a peach basket. Iron hoops and a hammock-style basket were introduced one year later in 1893. Another ten years passed before the innovation of open ended nets put an end to the practice of manually retrieving the ball from the basket each time a goal was scored.

The History of Basketball in the Olympics

Basketball debuted at the 1904 Saint Louis Olympic Games, but not as an official sport.  By 1932, the sport of basketball was so popular that an international governing body was needed to regulate the game. Thus, the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) was born. In 1935, the International Olympic Committee recognized basketball as one of the world's major sports.  During the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, held under Hitler's reign, basketball was first played as an Olympic sport. It was played outdoors on sand courts. Women's Olympic basketball was first introduced in 1974 during the Montreal Olympic Games.

The History of Basketball Timeline

• 1891 basketball was invented by James Naismith, a Canadian living in the United States
• 1892 the first set of basketball rules were established
• 1893 the first baskteball goals and nets were introduced
• 1904 basketball debuted in the Olympic games but not as a sport
• 1932 the FIBA was formed
• 1935 basketball was recognized as one of the world's major sports
• 1936 basketball was played as an Olympic sport for the first time
• 1959 James Naismith was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame
• 1974 Women's basketball debuted as an Olympic sport
• 1992 basketball celebrated its 100 year anniversary

The History of Basketball Shoes

Many shoes were worn to play basketball over the years but true basketball shoes were invented when the Nike founder put rubber into a waffle iron and got the idea to put treads on the bottom of basketball shoes for better traction.

The History of Basketball Books

Many books have been written about the history of basketball. The following are good reads:

The Biographical History of Basketball gives readers a much-needed antidote to basketball's historical amnesia.

Author Peter C. Bjarkman presents entertaining and fact-filled career summaries of the sport's great players, its ground-breaking coaches and administrators, and its other often-forgotten and less-publicized figures who authored developments crucial to basketball's century-long evolution. While baseball buffs can usually cite chapter and verse for the diamond sport's most memorable events and personages, basketball fans often have little collective memory of the game's past heroes and milestones, especially those of the nine decades preceding Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. The Biographical History of Basketball sends readers on a nostalgic trip through the entire 100-year span of hoops history with personal portraits and little-known facts about the 500 most significant on- and off-court personalities of the game's past and present. Detailing the feats of the men and women who are responsible for elevating basketball to its current status as the new American national pastime, Bjarkman gives readers a fascinating glimpse into the lives of some of the game's prominent players--past and present--including James Naismith, Phog Allen, and Doc Meanwell; on-court innovators Hank Luisetti, George Mikan, and Bob Cousy; legendary Hall of Famers Oscar Robertson, Wilt Chamberlain, and Red Auerbach; and modern-era idols like Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal and Grant Hill. Peter C. Bjarkman is one of the country's leading historians and author of more than 30 books on the history of basketball and baseball. A winner of the 1994 Macmillan-SABR award for best baseball research, he is a longtime resident of Lafayette, Indiana.

In Basketball, A History of Hoops, the arrangement is chronological, with the college and pro games covered in roughly alternative sequences.

This scheme works well and illustrates how the collegiate and professional ranks converged and separated during the course of their development. Stewart does an excellent job of demonstrating how basketball has been influenced by off-the-court financial and social pressures. There are a number of interesting tidbits that will delight youngsters attentive to historical detail: the NCAA's altering of its rules, for instance, so that Wilt Chamberlain could no longer slam dunk his foul shots as he did in high school. With colorful boxed insets, beautifully reproduced full-color photographs, and useful appendixes, this is a worthy addition to sports collections.

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