Basket Ball: An Article Written by Dr. James Naismith

Basket Ball: An Article Written by Dr. James Naismith

Basketball--History; Springfield College--Alumni and alumnae; Springfield College--faculty; International Young Men's Christian Association Training School (Springfield, Mass.); Springfield College;

Basketball; History; Naismith;

This is an article from the American Physical Education Review in which Dr. James Naismith explains how and why he created the game of basketball. He explains its development, its distribution and his take on the future of the game. Dr. James Naismith was a student at Springfield College from 1890-1891. Upon completing his one-year program to become a physical director for the YMCA, he took a position as a full-time faculty member at Springfield College, a position he kept through the spring of 1895. Just prior to the Christmas break in 1891, with the intent to appease a restless secretary department physical exercise class, he designed a new game: Basketball. A quote on his application may sum up best why and how he created this wonderful sport. In reply to why he desired to become a YMCA Physical Director, Naismith simply states, “My life work is to do good to men and serve God and wherever I can do this best is where I want to go.”

BASKET BALL 339
BASKET BALL
DOCTOR JAMES NAISMlTH, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS.
b,
It appears to be generally conceded that no paper on physical education is quite orthodox unless it traces its descent from the period of Greek culture, but I assure you that I shall not follow that precedent, for basket ball, unlike the great majority of our games, is not the result of evolution but is a modern synthetic product of the office. The conditions were recognized, the re­quirements
met, and the rules formulated and put in typewritten form before any attempt was made to test its value. These rules, as typewritten in the office, which are now in my possession, are identical with the rules as first published and remained unchanged for almost two years. Their first appearance, in print, was in the Triangle, the school paper of the Y. M. C. A. College at Springfield, Mass., in the issue of January, 1892, under the head­ing,
"A New Game." In the twenty years of its existence the game has been carried to the ends of the earth, and it is to-day in all probability one of the most widely known and played of all games. Its popularity and extensive introduction are due pri­marily
to three factors: first, there was an absolute need for such a contribution; second, it was founded on fundamental principles; third, it was produced in an international illstitution, which gave it a world interest.
Physical education, in the early nineties, was confined almost exclusively to gymnastics, derived from a twofold source, the apparatus work of the German, and the free work of the Swedish systems. Athletics as we know them to-day were little used in the work of a department of physical education, games hardly at all. About this time there was a growing interest in games because of their human interest and their adaptability to inter­collegiate
contests. There had been a steady growth in these since the seventies when intercollegiate sports really began, but they were largely outside the scope of physical education. Those individuals who in the fall season were interested in and took part in football, found that, in the winter, apparatus work "vas more or less tiresome and uninteresting, while the influence that it might have on the individual did not appeal to the youth who did not know that he had a stomach, save as a receptacle, nor a heart, save in a figurative sense. This left a period of physical inaction for a great many persons who enjoyed participation in
• Presented at the Eighth Annual Convention of the National Collegiate Athletic
Association.
340 AMERICAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION REVIEW
a wholesome form of competItion. Basket ball was introduced as a deliberate attempt to supply for the winter season a game that vvould have the same interest for the young man that football has in the fall and baseball in the spring. There was a place that ought to be filled and that apparently was filled by basket ball.
The first principle on which the game was based was that it should demand of, and develop in, the player the highest type of physical and athletic development. This type in the mind of the writer was the tall, agile, graceful, and expert athlete, rather than the massive muscular man on the one hand, or the cadaverous greyhound type on the other. This . necessitated that every player should have approximately the same kind of work; that it should demand of him that he be able to reach, jump, and act quickly and easily. Lacrosse was the ideal game to develop this type, but it was impossible to use it or adapt it for an indoor game. But the sport that we sought should embody the same factors.
The second principle was that it should be so easily taken up that any individual could make a fair showing without a long period of practice. It was necessary, therefore, to have very little apparatus and that so easily handled that anyone might make a start. The conclusion was that it should be played with a large, light ball. The only ball that answered that description was the Association football, and the first rules said that the game should be played "with an ordinary Association football." The third principle was that, on account of the size and vary-;
ing conditions of the gymnasiums of that time, it should be
possible to play the game on any ordinary gymnasium floor. Itl
is interesting to note that it was fil'st played by two teams of
nine men each, on a Hoor 35 x 45, equipped with apparatus,
and having a running track in the gallery.
The fourth principle was that it should be capable of beingj
developed to such an extent as to hold the interest ·of the playe
when he had become expert in the fundamentals of the gamel
In other words, it must be capable of being played as a tea~
game. It has been thought that this element is being overl
emphasized, but the game must have this quality in order t~
succeed. Indeed, it is the phase that is most interesting to this
Association, as the scope of our work is intercollegiate athletics!
That the game has the power to hold the interest of the exper~
makes its use as an intercollegiate sport possible.
vVith these principles in mind the several games were passed
in review or tried out on the fioor, but none of them seemed td
meet the requirements. Football was too rough, so was Associa
tion football; baseball, lacrosse,. and tennis were impossible
that time of the year. Track athletics lacked the element 0
personal competition with a moving competitor, while the gym BASKET BALL 341
tic games lacked the team element. It was plainly evident that there was need for a new game.
The confident assertion that a game could be devised to meet these requirements was met with incredulity and a quiet assunlp­tion
that the ideal could not be realized. At the same time ample opportunity was given to demonstrate the possibility of such an accomplishment, and the opportunity for testing it was supplied by a class of young men who were compelled to take gymnastic "Work one hOllr per day, and whose frame of mind was such that a strike was the only outlet for the natural feeling-and basket ball was the result.
A simple process of reasoning gave the clue that introduced a new element into the game and marks it from all others. This was so simple that the results are surprising. The roughness in football is due largely to tackling. This is necessitated because the opponent is permitted to run with the ball in his possession; therefore, if we eliminate the running, we eliminate the tackling and its consequent roughness. The first step was therefore to prohibit a player from running with the ball in his possession, but he was permitted to throw it in any direction, either to make a point or to pa s it to a team mate. This at first sight seemed to take away the possibilities of the game, but when the individual was permitted to move about anywhere, so long as he did not have the ball, the game became spirited and kaleidoscopic.
Association football was rough because of the fact that the ball is kicked through a goal, and the more forceful the kick, the greater the probability of scoring. This would be equally true if the ball were thrown through a goal. To eliminate this form of roughness, it was necessary to so modify conditions that in order to make a goal the ball should be thrown with care rather than with force. A change in the position of the goal solved this problem, for if the opening of the goal were horizontal and above the head the ball would have to be thrown with a curve and this source of roughness ,vould be disposed of.
On asking the janitor for a box of about eighteen inches in width, he informed me that he had a couple of large peach baskets. These were fastened to the gallery for goals and from these the name basket ball was derived.
Another difficulty remained unsolved, how to start the game without kicking or scrimmaging. A solution came frol11 Rugby, where, when the ball goes out of bounds, it is returned by throw­ing
it in between two lines of players. Then in order to avoid the scramble for the ball, which generally ensued, it was decided to throw it up between two men selected for this purpose. Kick­ing
and hitting the ball with the fist were prohibited from the first. \Vith the elimination of rtInning with the ball, there was no excuse for any personal contact, so that all manner of holding or handling the person of an opponent was absolutely prohibited. 342
AMERICAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION REVIEW
This has been a point of conflict ever since, but, according to the fundamental idea, there should be no doubt as to the proper attitude toward this feature of basket ball.
In two weeks from the time that the task was undertaken, the game was ready for its trial, and it was with a good deal of anxiety that I anticipated the outcome. The first exclamation by a bystander upon seeing the baskets was far from encourag­ing-"
Huh, a new game !"-and under this caption it appeared in the T1'iangle. It was not until some time later that, in a con­ference
with this same man, it was decided to call the game basket ball, and in the first issue of the "Guide" it was so called.
ITS DEVELOPMENT.
The development of basket bal1 has been along three main lines. First, the rules were adapted for amateur teams, in an attempt to make the game beneficial to the players, while encour­aging
legitimate competition for the interest of the men and the organization, rather than for the benefit of the' spectators. For this class there have arisen two sets of rules, the A. A. U. and the Col1egiate, differing only in one essential, namely, that in the latter the player may make a play after dribbling, while in the former he is restrained. There was need for a divergent set of rules so long as there was a difference in the size of the courts, but as soon as the fields are large enough to admit of the dribbles, there wil1 be no reason why there should be two sets of rules covering the same field.
The second group is that of the purely professional, where the rules are made for the spectator rather than for the player. This has been developed in and around Philadelphia, which is the home of professional basket ball. The professional game was developed through the reluctance of the Y. M. C. A.'s. to give time and space to the sport, in the regular work of their gymnasiums. The players who had become expert and were enthusiastic over the game organized teams outside of the Associations, and thus the professional teams began. The aim of their rules was to make the game as fast as possible, for the sake of the spectators; the players are enclosed in a cage so that the bal1 never goes out of bounds, at the same time giving more space for the spectators. However, this has had the effect of slowing the game, as there are so many occasions for a held ball.
A third line of development was the introduction of changes
to adapt the game to the characteristics of girls. The game was
played at first according to the rules used by boys; but a mis­interpretation
of the diagram, il1ustrating the floor, by some of
the VVestern institutions, gave them the idea of dividing the court
into three parts. This avoided the danger of overexertion and
exhaustion, which would natural1y result when running from
end to end of the field was permitted. BASKET BALL 343
A second change was one intended to prevent any opportunity for a struggle over the possession of the ball. Therefore, a rule was formulated that whoever first got possession of the ball with both hands was allowed three seconds in which to dispose of it.
Thus at the present we have these four sets of rules. It seems to me a good provision that the different classes of players should have a game adapted for their own needs; but where the condi­tion
of the players and the grounds is similar, there seems little use for more than one set.
ITs DISTRIBUTION.
The distribution of basket ball has been along several lines. The first organization to take it up was the Y. M. C. A. This was natural since it originated in their Training College, and it was carried by the students to their home Associations, thus attaining an international scope. One of the players on the first team went to India, another to China, another to Japan, while others carried it over the United States and Canada. The first team was scattered over the world, carrying the game with them. The drawings for the first copy of the rules were made by a Japanese, who later went to his home country. Ever since, the Associations have been the great exponents of the game, and to-day it is played in most of the Associations. of the world.
According to statistics supplied by Mr. Ball) one of the inter­national
secretaries, there are in the ' United States 103'7 repre­sentative
teams playing the game. There are a total of 5773 organized teams reported, which would make about 40,000 persons playing organized basket ball. And, if vve include the Associations that use basket ball as an adj unct to the regular physical work, the estimate of 'Mr. Ball is 150,000 members who
play the game. -" ., _",
In February, 1892, JUSt OIlC lIJonth after the first appearance of the game in the school paper, we find that it had been adopted as a part of the physical work in the Elmira Reformatory, and was used as a recreation and development for the inmates. It is, to-day, recognized as a useful adjunct to the physical and moral education of the youth in these institutions. Hon. H. W. Charles, of the Kansas Industrial School, writing of the game says: "Inasmuch as the inmates are usually lacking in physique and control, much stress is laid on those exercises which will correct these defects. I do not hesitate to commend basket ball as one of the most valuable factors in remedying these condi­tions."
The first educational institution to introduce basket ball was Carroll Institute, of Washington, D. c., as it was piayed there in February, 1892, or less than one month after it appeared in 344 A1VlERICAN Pl'nSICAL EDUCATION REVIEW
print. Cornell was the first college to use the game as a recrea­tion,
and there also it WaS first prohibited. So many men were playing on each side that, in their efforts to get the ball, fifty men would rush from end to end of the gymnasium, and the apprehension that it would do damag-e to the building led to its prohibition as a class recreation.
~
Yale was the first college to send out a representative team, as the Yale team played when they had to meet other institutions than colleges. In 1896, Pennsylvania, \Vesleyan, and Trinity were playing the game and had representative teams. The Uni­versity
of Iowa was the first of the \i\iestern colleges to make it an intercollegiat~ sport. About the same date Nebraska Univer­sity
was playing the game. Kansas sent out its first representative team in 1898. Since then the spread in the colleges has been rapid, until to-day there are few colleg-es that do not have a representative team.
In the Army there are teams at the different forts, Leavenworth having twelve teams, Fortress NIonroe nine, and others having representative teams. In the Navy, thirteen ships have teams which play whenever they have an opportunity, and this is en­couraged
by the Y. :1'/1. C. A.'s wherever possible. In the Canal Zone, there have been teams playing inter-city games, and last year there was a league of five teams playing the intercollegiate rules. In South America it is obtaining a foothold, and leagues are being formed in the different countries.
The spread among the high schools has been very great, espe­cially
in the \Vest, where the state universities have encourag-ed it by holding an annual tournament. Nebraska University had a tournament in which there were fifty teams; Kansas held one in which there were thirty-three boys' teams and seventeen girls' teams; \iVashington. one with ten; :Montana, one with twenty­nine;
and Utah, one with thi1·ty-three teams. These figures do not represent all the teams that played the game, but only those that felt that they had a chance of winning the tournament.
Basket ball is especially adapted for high schools, as it develops those traits which should be developed at that time of life. It is individualistic and at the same time it encourages cooperation; it develops the reA exes which must be developed at that time, if at all, in the ordinary individual. It can be played with few men and is inexpensive.
Another phase of the work is in the Sunday school leagues, chief among which is the league in Springfield, 'Mass., managed by the Training School. This phase is extending to other cities; Kansas City has a league of sixty-five teams.
In the playground, it has found one of its most fruitful spheres, as it interests more individuals, with less oversight, than any other game. In the New York Park Playground there are 300 teams organized. Foreign countries are organizing teams and BASKET BALL 345
playing the game either in connection with the Y. M. C. A.'s, schools, or colleges.
The game had hardly been well started before the girls saw its possibilities for their use. A company of school teachers in Springfield, Mass., organized tvvo teams and played the game in Armory Hill Gymnasium. The game was illustrated at a convention in Providence, R. 1., and it was carried to some towns of New England. Smith College early took it up and played it as an interclass game. The students going out from that institu­tion
spread it over the country, and in 1894 it was used in Wolfe Hall, a ladies' seminary in Denver. From this institution it spread to the high schools of that city, and soon there was a league organized. In 1896, the girls of Leland Stanford met a team from the University of California.
The schoolgirls of the Philippines are using it as a class game, and it is recognized by the authorities as one of the school interests.
In a recent work on the customs of Japan, basket ball is men­tioned
as one of the forms of recreation and development for the Japanese girls. The girls of China, even some of them with their crippled feet, play the game in that country. Australia has a league of girls' teams playing a series of contests. In Eng­land
the girls of Oxford University play it as an outdoor sport.
In our own coulltry the game is popular with the high school girls, and it forms one of the few games that they can use for recreation and competition. There is objection to the game when used as a spectacle for girls' teams, but it is rapidly assuming its true place in the education of the girls. In one high school of Brooklyn there are thirty-two teams playing interclass games, and they are given a definite time on the day's schedule. Smith College has consistently used it as an intramural sport. The game as played by these institutions is the modified game for the girls, and this adds to its permanence and usefulness.
To see how basket ball appeals to and encourages the type of athlete set up as an ideal at the inception of the game, it is interesting to note the charts of the basket ball players. For this purpose I have introduced a chart showing the average measure­ments
of the men who have earned their letter in basket ball at the University of Kansas. The player is about a 7'0 per cent man, symmetrical with the exception of the left ar111, which is slightly smaller than the right. 'When compared with the ideal athlete of j\,IcKenzie, he is one-tenth of an inch taller and ten pounds lighter. The chest is not so muscular, but is flexible. This was to be expected as a development from a game that demanded so 111uch from the lungs and heart. It is impossible to show the development in physical judgment, skill, and control, and those attributes which go to make up the ideal athlete. 346
AllIERICAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION REVIEW
Height. , .. "" ., 'INeight " " .. ". Neck ..... , ... . . Chest (con.) ... . Chest (exp.) .... . Waist ..... , ... . . Right Arm .... . . Right Arm up .. . Right Forearm ., Le~t Arm ...... . Left Arm up ... .
Left Forearm '"
Right Thigh .... .
Right Calf ", .. .
Left Thigh ... . . .
Left Calf ... , .. .
(A)
69.1
149.0
14.1
33.7
36.8
29.9
10.5
11.9
10.5
10.2
11.4
10.2
21.2
13.9
21.0
13 .9
(D )
72.9
168.0
14.5
34.2
38.8
31.6
10.9
12.3
11.3
11.0
12.4
11.1
21.8
14.8
21.9
14.9
(C )
72.4
149.0
14.3
34 .8
38.7
29.0
10.2
11.4
10.5
10.1
11.2
10.0
21.0
13.3
21.0
13.3
Column A. The average of basket ball players 0 f the University of Kansas.
Column B. The measure­ments
of the captain of the University of Kansas basket ball team.
Column C. The measure­ments
of the best all-round athlete of the University of Kansas (football, basket ball, track, baseball, and gymnasium ) ,
BASKET BALL AS TIlE TYPE OF A COLLEGE GAME.
It is intrinsically an open game, and exhihits skill rather than science. Audiences must expect to appreciate an exhibition of muscular activity, grace of movement, and immediate response to varying conditions rather than to see their team defeat the other. The game is enhanced by clean, rapid play, for it is then that skill can be shown, both in handling the ball and in inter­cepting
passes by the oppo1lent, so as to get the ball into the possession of the quicker team. It is not in a class with football, where the ball marks the progress of the game, and a partisan can become enthusiastic over a game, the science of which he knows nothing about. The main interest in basket ball lies in watching the activity of the players and the kaleidoscopic changes which take place. Every moment of a game is full of thrills, when expert players handle the ball. The instantaneous action of the reflexes, when a ball is caught, in deciding where it shall go, demands a great amount of coordination. There is not time to think out a play, but reflex judgl1lent must control, and the action must be performed with lightning rapidity. No prettier sight can be found in athletic achievement than in a game where the ball, without any preconceived plan, passes from man to man in a series of brilliant movel1lents and lands in the goal, or is cleverly intercepted when a goal seems inevitable. 'We watch such a game with an increasing admiration for the wonderful capacity of the human frame for accomplishing the seemingly impossible: No amount of rough work, even if it should result in a goal for our side,. can compare with such a spectacle. It is indeed a nalTOW mind that puts goals before grace, scores before skill, or marks before manhood.
Institutions must sooner or later learn to judge the success or failure of a team as much, at least, by the manly attributes ex­hibited,
as by the score. The problem of team games to-day is BASKET BALL 347
to discover some method of scoring that will include the attributes of skill and self-control.
One of the conditions that was thought necessary for the best kind of a game was that it should be capable of team work. This feature has been developed from the first, but there are two kinds of team work; cooperative tea'ln 'Work, in which each player uses his team mates at the right time, and to the right extent, and has become so accustomed to doing this that he does not stop to think, but acts reflexly; mackine team 'Work, in which every man does that which he has been told to do and does it the same way every time.
Games differ in their capacity for one form or the other; e.g., Rugby is cooperative, American football, machine-like; lacrosse is cooperative, baseball, machine-like. Each of these has its own advantages. Cooperation develops the individual, machine play, the game; the former develops the general reflexes, the latter specializes; the former makes the player broad and independent, the latter makes him a cog; the former develops initiative, the latter, subordination; the former makes him depend on his own resources, the latter makes him dependent on the coach.
Basket ball has possibilities for both forms, but up to the present the former has been emphasized. There is a tendency to develop the machine type, but the effort of the Rules Committee has been to minimize this and to lay the main stress on the development of skill and initiative, the result of which will be the development of the spectacular rather than the partisan form of competition.
Games are instinctive, and intended to develop the individual for the business of life. The educational value of a game, there­fore,
should be judged by its effects on the powers of the parti­cipant.
If it makes him better able to master the circumstances of life it is a benefit; if it hinders this, or if it is of negative value in this respect, then it cannot justify its place in a college program. The sports of early times developed brute strength and physical endurance, but neither of these is ne<:essary for the college man after his graduation. But there are many factors that can be developed that would make him a better man and a better citizen. The attributes that are demanded in the life of the twentieth century are initiative, activity, quick judgment, adaptability to conditions, self-control, perseverance, and con­centration.
These are the attributes developed by basket ball. It is therefore a means of education.
Basket ball is one of the games that attract the player, apart entirely fr0111 the competitive element. It is one of the games in which a small group will work trying to make Roals. There seems to be an attraction in endeavoring to put the ball in the basket, a desire to acquire the skill necessary to make goals, aside entirely from the feeling that you are doing better than 348
AMERICAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION REVIEW
someone else. Of course, the added interest that comes from a good contest makes it all the more attractive. It is this factor that makes it particularly adapted for interclass games and for the development of the individuaL It is unnecessary to adapt the rules to suit the spectators, for it will be played wherever a goal and a basket are found. Even should it be put aside as an intercollegiate sport, it still has a part to play in the education of man. But the intercollegiate clement is necessary to get the best out of the sport
TI·IE FUTURE OF THE GAME.
The future of the game lies in the hands of the coaches and officials. The rules of the intercollegiate game are as nearly perfect as can be under the present conditions. Every safe­guard
against roughness has been introduced, in order to make the game as clean as possible. It is clearly within the power of the official to so enforce the rules as to make the game an ideal one, for the spectator as well as for the player. It is absolutely necessary that the game be kept free from objectionable features; first, · because every play is right before the audience, and every act and even every word is within the range of every spectator. Any roughness therefore is immediately detected and becomes the subject of audible criticism. This is, in turn, heard by the players, and they feel that, if the official does not enforce the rules, they must themselves retaliate or be considered cowards, so that further roughness occurs and mars the game.
Second, the attitude of audiences towards the game is different to-day from what it was several years ago. Now everyone is looking for a square deal, and the official who does not give it is likely to hear from the audience. The official who does not rule as they think he should is condemned and brings the game into disrepute.
In a recent criticism of the rules there was a statement that it
is impossible to playa defense, without playing the man rather
than the ball. This is a shortsighted policy, as it is not necessary
to keep the score small, for the scoring of goals is one of the
interesting features to the spectators, and any score around
thirty is not too large. In football there are fr0111 eight to twelve
minutes of actual play, while in basket ball every minute, from
the start to the pause for a goal or foul, is one of intense activity.
Playing the ball does not mean that the opponent should be
ignored, but that, instead of trying to keep him fr0111 scoring
after he has obtained possession of the ban, a guard's object
should be to prevent him from getting the ball at all. The latter
calls for more skill than the former, for if the guard were allowed
to hold the forward, it would be impossible to make points; but
it would then be a tug-of-war, not basket balL BASKET BALL 349
Those who complain of the roughness of basket ball surely do not interpret the rules aright, for there is not a single provision that allows of any personal contact between players. How any­one
can make a rough game of it and follow the rules is hard to understand. If any individual game is rough, the blame cannot be laid on the rule makers, for everywhere is emphasized the, fact that the game should be kept free from personal contact in even the slightest degree. It is easy for an official to let fouls pass unnoticed for a time at the beginning of the game, and then endeavor to mal e the rulings strict after complaint has been lodged. It is infinitely better to be strict from the first, then . the players will know what to expect, and will play accordingly. The officials should know the rules of the game and enforce them according to their letter and spirit, rather than according
to the desire of any coach, manager, or audience.
In those sections of the country where the game has been kept
clean, open, and free from roughness, it has grown in popularity
and in esteem. But wherever the officials have been lax, or indif­ferent
about the enforcement of the rules, the game has lost in
popularity, and in some cases has been dropped because of its
reputed roughness. In the Middle \Vest, players and audiences
have commended the work of the very strictest officials, while
they have uniformly condemned the work of those who were
lax, and allowed roughness to creep in.
The responsibility of the coaches is even greater than that of
the officials, as many of the latter are influenced by the attitude
of the coaches. \Vhen the coach lacks the knowledge or ability
to perfect a team in individual skill, he is willing to permit hold­ing,
in .order that his men may keep the score down. He may
even request that fouls be overlooked; thus roughness is intro­duced,
for which the rules frequently get the blame. Or the
coach may refuse to accept an official who is known to rule
strictly and in accord with the spirit of the game. Thus the
official to retain his popularity frequently officiates as the coaches
ask. I have been asked by members of this Association if there
was not some way to change the rules so as to eliminate rough­ness.
There is apparently only one way to meet this difficulty,
namely, to have the officials responsible to a Central Board, to
get the information from impartial sources rather than from
coaches and managers. At the same time dissatisfaction on the
part of the coaches could be weighed, and a just estimate of the
work of an official could be obtained.
RESPONSIUILITY OF THIS ASSOCIATION TO BASKET BALL.
While the Y. M. C. A.'s were the early pioneers \vho carried the game into many countries, this body is now largely responsi­ble
for its growth and development. Formerly, it was recog-
DPRINGFIELD COLLEGE LT 350
AMERICAN PHYSICAL EDUCATION REVIEW
nized as a factor in recreation and physical development, and later, as having a value as a means of inculcating ethical instruc­tion.
To-day, without losing any of its powers, it has become a part of our educational systems, and in many cases is being introduced into the school program. The teachers in the ele­mentary
and secondary schools are graduates of our normal schools and colleges, and the attitude towards the game which they have acquired from their alma matel' is likely to be the one which they will bear to it when they are responsible for its conduct, whether professionally or incidentally. That college men have an important part in the development of basket ball is seen in such instances as that of Goodhue, who introduced it into Syria; Exner, who organized it in one of the districts of China; Alford and Overfield, who made it popular in Alaska; Gray, who gave it an added impetus in India; the engineers in the Canal Zone, and the multitude of college men who are con­trolling
the game in our high schools and academies.
Therefore. while the immediate responsibility of this organi­zation
is primarily with intercollegiate contests, yet it should use every means to put basket ball, as well as every other sport, on such a basis that it will be a factor in the molding of character,
,as well as to encourage it as a recreative and competitive sport. This organization should take such measures as will result in a rigid enforcement of the rules as formulated, and encourage a manly respect for the rights of others. So much stress is laid to-day on the winning of games that practically all else is lost sight of, and the fine elemen'ts of manliness and true sportsman­ship
are accorded a secondary place. One great problem for this organization is the formulating of a system of scoring that will take cognizance of these traits of manhood or the development of traditions which will make it impossible for a college man to take advantage of an opponent, save in those qualities which the sport is supposed to require. The bane of basket ball to-day is the attempt to evade the laws of the game and even the rulings of the officials. There is no more reason why we should take an illegal advantage of an opponent in basket ball than that we should put our hand in his pocket and take his wealth. Few college men would take money or valuables from another, yet they are taught by the practices of our sports that it is not dis­honorable
to take an illegal advantage of another, if there is little prospect of being caught. To-day, a player hardly dares do the manly thing if it will mean a loss of points, lest he incur the ridicule of the bleachers and the sneers of his college mates. The man who does what he knows to be right, when he thereby fails to score points, too often incurs the wrath of the coach and the scorn of his team mates.
If athletics are to occupy the place that they might in the development of the college man of the future, they must take BASKET BALL 351
cognizance of the manly traits as well as of the development of physical skill and ability. This organization, composed mainly of faculty members whose interest is in the making of men rather than in the making of athletes, is the body to inaugurate such a movement. It should set the standard by which a sport is judged, and then, by education and, as far as possible, by legislation make the forward step in the development of intercollegiate contests.
As a member of the Basket Ball Rules Committee, I wish to say that that committee has done everything in its power to make the rules the very best possible. I believe that they are adequate to meet the situation, but their power is limited. \Vhile they may make rules of the very best. they have no power to enforce them, and each college is a power unto itself, and may make such provisions that the good of the rules is annulled. It is entirely within the province of this organization to take the next step in the development of an observance of the rules and the cultivation of true sportsmanship. If this body, composed of representatives of the great colleges of this country, and of representatives of the great athletic conferences of our colleges, should go on record as in favor of a rigid enforcement of the rules, clean sport, courteous treatment by players and spectators, and a fraternal spirit between college men, it would introduce a forward step in intercollegiate contests. The field would be broadened, and a true conception of a college athlete would ensue when we would realize that a college contestant is primarily a gentleman, secondarily a college men, and incidentally a basket ball player.

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Naismith, James, 1861-1939

Text from pages 339-351 from the May 1914 edition of the American Physical Education Review

Springfield College

1914-15

2010-02-11

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