| Ned Irish promoted basketball in Madison Square
Garden. When fifteen to sixteen thousand people attended
& basketball game in New York the newspaper men thought it.
was marvelous, but in the Big Ten and in our om section
the attendance was limited only by the size of the field-
houses where the teams played, especially when the rivalry
was close in a conference game. ee

this was something.

You see, Dr. Ned smith originated basketball at the
behest of Dr. Luther lialsey Gulick because there were eighteen
obstreperous young men at Springfield during the winter who
had nothing to do, and this was to use up the energies of the
eighteen troublesome mene ‘That would be nine men on a side.
It was Dr, Naismith's theory that fifty or one hundred people
could play on each side and throw the ball into this hog
He had no conception of basketball being broken up into’
cull thedbive and the intriante phasing end seb plays that
are now indulged in. His idea was more like the game of cage
ball that used to be played in the army where the large ball
a ee
their heads. :

  

Personally, I think basketbell is headed for greater
things because the educators, not the coaches, think that
basketball has all the qualities necessary for the educable
child. I heard eight outstanding educators make that state-
ment from one platform two years ago. Just as you teach
education through play in the kindergarten, the elenents of
basketball are so blended that they hook up with the educators'
theory of education through play. The single individual can
enjoy the geme from practice on free throws, push and rebound
shots, and the team is of such a wit that most any type of
Group can have a basketball organization. “It is a game very
ee these are Dr.
Neaienith's words

= shidah: Gen eet: oF Daskeetbal’ te ently An ite tneuney
because sections like California, Texas and the southland are
building fieldhouses where the game can be played. This has
only come about in the last year or soe Foreign countries are
increasing their interest. So I think that basketball has a
— he

Better floors, better lighting facilities and more
education along sportsmanship standards are ways in which the
game can be improved. there ts nothing radically wrong with |
basketball, only in some sections they permit it to become
too roughs When roughness and holding are permitted, then