Throughout his entire life, from
youth to maturity, Dr. Naismith held
fast to the ideals of high moral
courage and sportsmanship. He car-
ried with him into his teachings and
his work all the lessons he learned
on the fields of play. Sports to Dr.
Naismith were a religion, and he
never varied from his course of a
purposeful career. He gave to youth
what he believed youth needed.

 

ways in his dealings with those who knew him well
in college or outside.

Jim roomed in Springfield in the house where the
eating club held forth. The widowed lady who ran
the house had two daughters. One of these girls was
of the gentle, retiring type, very sweet and pretty.
We were all happily surprised when Jim picked
this one for his wife.

Our trails did not cross for many years after
our Springfield days together. Gradually he ac-
~ cumulated fame as the inventor of basketball, which
has grown so steadily in popularity through the
years. A high spot in its popularity and a recogni-
tion of its inventor was the acclaim accorded Jim
when he modestly accepted the tributes paid him
at the Berlin Olympic Games in 1936, where he was
sent on a popular subscription fund raised by his
American admirers.

On his occasional trips to New York at the be-
hest of basketball coaches or sports writers, Jim
usually dropped into my office for a little chat over
Springfield days or his proposed book. Modest,
simple, unaffected, sparkling with good humor, he
used to speak in tones of wonderment as to the
privileges he had had during his full and useful
years through the invention of basketball. The equi-
lateral triangle as a symbol of the all-around man
developed in body, mind, and spirit was superbly
illustrated in the life of this well balanced per-
sonality, whose life and work we all honor in this
Basketball Jubilee. May the efforts of the Commit-
tee to secure the funds for a fitting and lasting
memorial to the founder of our great international
game be crowned with success.

 

The edifice which the Committee contemplates
building will serve not only as a memorial to Dr.
Naismith but it will perpetuate and crystallize the
highest ideals and finest traditions of the game.

There each year will be found the names of the
All American teams, and the interesting and valu-
able data of the sport.

Nothing I can think of will lend such permanency
to the pastime of basketball and assure its continu-
ance under the same flourishing conditions it en-
joys today as the Temple of Basketball. The game
has done a world of good for youth, and anything
we can do to improve and sustain it is worthwhile.

It is unfortunate that Dr. Naismith is not alive
today to witness this wholehearted movement on
the part of sports lovers everywhere in his behalf.
Few sportsmen have ever caused such a wide-spread
effort as he has. The Naismith Memorial will be
the largest building ever erected to a sportsman.
It will house both a Museum and a Hall of Fame.
In a certain sense it will be the mecca of the game
and it will be open at all times to the public.
Basketball will profit immeasurably, I am sure, by
this manifestation of gratitude on the part of its
adherents everywhere. It strikes me that this whole
enterprise is one of giving honor where honor
is due.

Few men in athletic history have given to the
world so permanent and fruitful a contribution as
has Dr. Naismith. Multitudes of young men and
women everywhere have grown strong and healthy
through the medium of this game. Perhaps by
fortuitous accident basketball is the most American
in spirit of all athletic pastimes.