James Naismith
Inventor of basketball (1861–1939) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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James Naismith (NAY-smith; November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939) was a Canadian-American[1] physical educator, physician, Christian chaplain, and sports coach, best known as the inventor of the game of basketball.[2][3] After moving to the United States, he wrote the original basketball rule book and founded the University of Kansas basketball program.[4] Naismith lived to see basketball adopted as an Olympic demonstration sport in 1904 and as an official event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as well as the birth of the National Invitation Tournament (1938) and the NCAA Tournament (1939).
 Naismith holding a basketball and basket | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1861-11-06)November 6, 1861 Almonte, Canada West, Province of Canada |
| Died | November 28, 1939(1939-11-28) (aged 78) Lawrence, Kansas, U.S. |
| Alma mater | McGill University University of Colorado |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Basketball | |
| 1898–1907 | Kansas |
| Track and field | |
| 1900–1906 | Kansas |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 55–60 (basketball) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Awards | |
| |
| Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 1959 | |
| College Basketball Hall of Fame Inducted in 2006 | |
Naismith studied and taught physical education at McGill University in Montreal until 1890 before moving to Springfield, Massachusetts, United States later that year, where in 1891 he designed the game of basketball while he was teaching at the International YMCA Training School.[5] Seven years after inventing basketball, Naismith received his medical degree in Denver in 1898. He then arrived at the University of Kansas, later becoming the Kansas Jayhawks' athletic director and coach.[5] While a coach at Kansas, Naismith coached Phog Allen, who later became the coach at Kansas for 39 seasons, beginning a lengthy and prestigious coaching tree. Allen then went on to coach legends including Adolph Rupp and Dean Smith, among others, who themselves coached many notable players and future coaches.[6]