MINUTES OF BUSINESS SESSION OF THE NATIONAL
BASKETBALL RULES COMMITTEE ~ APRILS5,1956.
i

The National Basketball Rules Committee went into executive session
at 4:00 P.M. Sunday, April 5, 1936. The following members were pre-
sent: F,.C, Allen, W. McK. Barber, J. W. Bunn, Wilson Collins,

H. G. Crisp, J. H. Crocker, W. BH. Meanwell, H. V. Porter, Samuel
Rogers, F. A. Rowe, J. W. St. Clair, L. W. St. John, H, H. Salmon,
H. A. Swaffield, Oswald Tower, W. 4, Witte.

The meeting was called to erder by Chairman St. John, The chairman
gave a resume of the salient facts connected with the history of

the basketball committee. In the early years of the century bas-
ketball was played only sporadically and under various local sets

of rules. The greater number of games were sponsored by the various
Y,M.C.A. groups, The colleges gradually adopted the game and by
about 1909 the college group sought a degree of uniformity by ap-
peinting a committee to draw up a set of rules which would govern
all college games. This committee, of which Ralph Morgan was chair-
man, met in New York and during the period between trains drew up a
code which was the forerunner of the present one, For the next
several years this code was in common use in college games, but

the Y.M,C.A. and A.A.U. organizations used other rules, About 1913
Dr, Raycroft called a conference of men representing the various or-
ganizations for the purpose ef attempting to set up a single code
for all groups, This conference resulted in the formation of a
joint basketball committee and a resultant joint code of rules.

This code remained in force during the next fifteen years. In the
meantime the high school and college groups had perfected a nation-
wide organization embracing thousands of schools. The colleges were
organized into eight districts under the National Collegiate Ath-
letic Association and the high schools by states under the National
Federation of State High School Athletic Associations. It soon be-
came evident that the school organizations had become the major
factor in the development of basketball since it had become one of
the major school sports. In contrast to this the sport occupied a
relatively minor position in the program of the :,M.C.A . and the
A,A.U. the representation of the two latter groups came to be more
or less confined to a small section of the entire erganizations.

It was evident that any fair plan of representation would have to
embody consideration for the powerful influence exerted on the sport
by the high school organization, In consequence, largely through
the influence of L, W. St. John, the National Federation was invited
to join forces with the other organizations in drawing up suitable
rules of play. This resulted in a committee which was so large as
to be unwieldy and the result was a reorganization in 1933 which
provided for a committee made up ef eight representatives from the
N.C.A.A., four from the National Federation, two fro1 the Y,M,C,A.,
two from the A.A,U, and two from Canada, This committee was still
regarded as rather large for efficient work, Hewever, it functioned
during the next three years, In 1935 the Y,M.C,4, and A.A.U,

groups protested against the existing type of organization and pro-
posed increased representation for their groups, This proposal did
not meet with very great favor by either the National Collegiate,
the National Federation or the Canadian representatives and, as a
result, a proposed reorganization in 1955 resulted in a split vote
and no action, Between that date and the 1936 meeting, the National
Collegiate and the National Federation parent bodies instructed