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The Y.M.C.A. Originated Basketball
and Carried It "Round the World

By Dr. John Brown
NaTIonaL Councit, Y.M.C.A.

ASKETBALL owes its origin and its spread

throughout the United States and the world
very largely to the Young Men’s Christian Asso-
ciation.

While he was an instructor at the International
Y.M.C.A. Training School, now known as Spring-
field College, Dr. James Naismith invented basket-
ball to provide gymnasium classes with a competi-
tive indoor sport that players would enjoy as much

as football and basketball.

Following the invention of basketball by Dr.
Naismith at Springfield, the game spread rapidly
through the network of Y.M.C.A.’s throughout the
United States. The Y.M.C.A. in those days was one
of the few organizations interested in physical edu-
cation and having the necessary gymnasium space
for basketball, so it is only natural that for many
years the sport was thought of as a Y.M.C.A. game.
School gymnasiums, though almost universal now.

became numerous only in recent years.

Basketball leagues composed of different Y.M.C.A.
branches were organized shortly after the game’s
introduction. One of the first of these was in Brook-
lyn, N. Y., where basketball still is played with

an enthusiasm rivaled by few other cities.

The game did not have entirely smooth sailing
in the Y.M.C.A., however. Some of the old-time
Y.M.C.A. physical directors, who then were judged
by the number of members in their classes. began
to question the value of a game that would allow
but 10 players on a gymnasium floor that could
otherwise accommodate 50 or 60. The physical di-
rectors felt (and not unreasonably) that physical
education for a large group was more important
that a recreative game in which only a few could
take part.

This conflict resulted in an attempt on the part
of some physical directors to legislate the game
out of the Y.M.C.A. Basketball was denounced be-
cause of its “monopoly of the floor and its evil
effect on the Association’s reputation and influence.”
This naturally only served to increase the game’s
popularity, and Y.M.C.A.’s expanded their basket-

ball programs, teaching thousands upon thousands
of boys to play and love the game.

As these youngsters grew up and entered high
school, they took basketball with them. Many of
the early high school teams, lacking gymnasiums
of their own, played in Y.M.C.A.’s. The game
spread rapidly through high schools, and soon
thousands of teams were playing. From Y.M.C.A.’s
and the high schools, basketball spread to colleges.
According to Dr. Naismith, many colleges did not
offer basketball at all until it was introduced by
students who had played the game in high school,

or at the Y.M.C.A.

From the game’s beginning, the Y.M.C.A. has
had an important part in making the rules. The
first rules were published by the Y.M.C.A., and
for some years the Association made all changes
in the rules. organized leagues, and in general
supervised the game. As basketball developed and
spread to other institutions, the Y.M.C.A. asked the
Amateur Athletic Union to join in promoting the
game. These two organizations governed basketball
until 1905, when a group of colleges, feeling that
since the game had been so widely adopted by
them, decided they should also adopt rules. Having
two sets of rules was a disadvantage for basket-
ball, and in 1915 the Y.M.C.A. proposed that the
National Collegiate Athletic Association, the A.A.U.,
and the Y.M.C.A. merge into one rule-making body.
This resulted in the formation of the Joint Basket-
ball Committee:

There are few countries in the world where bas-
ketball is not played. Because it is an international
organization operating in more than 60 countries,
it is only natural that the Y.M.C.A. should have
played a leading part in carrying the game it
developed to every corner of the world. Until the
introduction of basketball, the code of sportsman-
ship as we know it today was not firmly rooted in
many countries. Athletes too often played only to
win, and had not learned to lose graciously. Basket-
ball, because it was so well liked by the players.
under trained leadership did much to overcome this

when introduced by the Y.M.C.A.

12.