YORKTON - It always seems interesting to me that basketball – arguably the most popular sport in the United States today, exists because of a Canadian.
Of course sports fans in this country will be aware Dr. James Naismith is undisputedly credited as the inventor of the game of basketball. He was born in Ontario, Canada on November 6, 1861.
It was in Springfield, Massachusetts, Naismith was at the YMCA International Training School “that Naismith, sensing unrest in his class of young adult males who had to repeatedly endure calisthenics and children’s games in the tough Massachusetts’ winter of 1891, set out to devise a new game. Using the equipment available at his disposal and drawing from his childhood experience in a game called ‘duck on a rock,’ Naismith fashioned a game with a peach basket and soccer ball in which the goal of the players was to, through teamwork and finesse, lob the ball into the basket. A legend was born,” notes www.basketball.org
Of course the creation of basketball – or at least what would become modern basketball over time, is not the whole story of Naismith.
Like most people who become well-known for a singular thing, there is more to Naismith’s story – much of it I learned after coming upon James Naismith: The Man Who Invented Basketball by Rob Rains with Hellen Carpenter.
While the book released back in 2009, I was lucky enough to be sent a review copy more recently, and the book was a treat.
I say that because this book gives us much more insight into Naismith than his putting up a peach basket and having young men throw a ball into it, an idea that evolved to the work wide game of basketball.
The insights in the book were aided by the fact Carpenter is a Naismith descendent, and that meant “unprecedented access to the Naismith archives and documents,” according to Temple University Press.
Author Rains told Yorkton This Week that the family connection was key as “they had all theses boxes of things (from Naismith) . . .moved into the basement,” at one point. While they would sell off some of the memorabilia there were “all these letters written by Naismith.
“There was incredible information in the letters.”
So thanks to the letters we glimpse Naismith as a Chaplin at the end of the first great war as an example, learning about how he lived aside from being a game designer, as Rains noted saying “it was the other things he did in his life,” that as author he found compelling.
That treasure trove of personal material, much of it not relating to basketball, got the family thinking, “we should do something with it,” offered Rains, who added he was ultimately brought in to help make a book a reality.
While noting it has been a number of years since the book launched Rains said he remains happy with it, adding “it probably surprised some people,” in terms of the little insights included, such as the basket being 10-feet off the ground simply because that was the height of the railing in the gym.
This is a book, while not new, is a ‘to look for’ title for fans of basketball, and those intrigued by Canadians of note. Find it at alt.library.temple.edu
