Feb. 16, 1942 _
The Athletie Journal

 

Yhet a gelexy of events in the histery of basketball is this
yoer, 1941 A. D& The Golden Amiversary of Basketball! he Silver
anniversary ef the Joint Basketball Pules Comittee! ‘Two decades of
phenominal progress in basketball.

What has inspired the phonemens] growth and progress of this great
geome’ How heve the offense and the defense changed? Why the great
popularity of this sport? These are « fow questions for which we find the
BNSWOrS »

¥rom the inventor's peach besket to the present iron rim; from
@ soceer football to « fullesized regulation besketball; from the large
reotenguler 6’ x 4! backboords, that wore firet made of chicken wire, then
glass, then wood, te the present streamlined fan-shaped pressed~stee] back-
doarde, the game of basketball has steadily forged ahead te become one of the
most popular emateur sports. ‘the original purpese of the Jerge beekboards
wae to keep spectators end partisens of the game from kicking or batting the ball
away from the basket. Later the pleyers learned to bank tho ball from these
lerge boords, The Research Committee of the Rules Body, by cutting away the
dead wool, retained only the fertile area ef the board. The radical reduction
in size of the backboard hes sided spectator visibility, beok of the basket,
more than fifty percent.

from the small low-ceilinged gyunasdums to the massive field houses
of today; form the audiences of « few hundreds to crowds of from 12,000 te
20,000; from nine, thon seven to five players on © side unfolds the unprecendented
gromth of the fifty~year-old indoor game of besketball. |

‘Bweryone mows thet the distinguished Dr. James Naismith, former Pro-
fescor ef Physien] Eduestion at the University of Kenees, while a student et

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