A sketch of the first basketball game and Dr. James Naismith that appeared in the Springfield Sunday Republican on November 27, 1955 under the title of "Historical Sketches of Springfield, No. 204." The sketeches are by Robert Holcomb. They include a sketch of Naismith in the left hand corner and a rendition of the first sketch of the game that appeared in 1991. In this rendition, there are a group of men under the basket and a man standing at the top of the ladder by the basket. The ball is close to going into the basket. There is a paragraph underneath the sketch describing the creation of basketball and Dr. Naismith.
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Springfield Sunday Republican (Springfield, Mass.)
James A. Naismith (November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939), known as "The Father of Basketball" was born in Almonte, Ontario. When he was nine, both of his parents died of typhoid fever and he was raised by his uncle, who later financed Naismith's way through college. He earned his theological degree from McGill University and graduated from Springfield College, then the YMCA Training School, in 1891. After graduation, he was hired as a faculty member, where he taught for five years. It is in his first year as a faculty member at Springfield College that he created the game of Basketball as an activity for an unruly class. In 1895, Naismith enrolled at the Gross Medical School in Denver and received his M.D. in 1898. In that same year, Naismith took the position of department head of physical education at the University of Kansas, where he remained until his death.