MOUNT UNION IS CREDITED WITH
FIRST COLLEGIATE COURT TEAM

The basketball team which was organized in and which
played in Morgan Gymnasium at Mount Union College, Alliance,
Ohio during the 1891-92 season is thought to be the first
college team in the world. | 7 3 ea a

He Se Johns, who now resides in Cleveland, was coach of —
this coyrt team. which could find no collegiate opponents. In
the fall of 1891 while a student of Mount: Union,. Johns. took
instruction from a Charles Stolberg in Canton from Springfield,
Massachusetts where he had-learned the game of basketball in
the Springfield Y, M. CG. A. from Dr. James Naismith, inventor
Of. the,game. ) wl pete

Later in the 1891-92 season, Johns organizéd a quintet
at Mount Union. He wrote to-all the colleges in. and around
Ohio attempting to secure games for this first college team,
However, there were no other collegiate teams playing the
game at that time. For that reason Johns had to be content
with sending his charges against Ye M. C. A. teams from the
nearby cities of Canton, Youngstown, Niles, and Warren.

Mourit Union again placed a team on the court during the
1892-93 season. This time Johns was able .to find collegiate
op: osition, Hiram College, located 25 miles north of Alliance,
had just organized a team. Oddly enough, when the two teams
met, the Hiram Terriers defeated the Mount Union Purple Raiders
by a score which would seem more probable. in football---12 to 0,

The cornerstone for the building, which was déstined to
be the birthplace of intercollegiate basketball, was laid on
Commencement Day, 1889. A catalog dated that year states that
one of the speakers on this momentus occasion was the Hon.

William McKinley of Canton, who later became Fresident of the
United States,

The formal dedication of Morgan Gymnasium was held in the
fall of 1891 about the same time that Johns was going to Can-
ton and receiving his instructions from Charles Stolberg.

From the time the game originated, Mount Union was always
represented on the basketball court by a strong team. They
have won more than their share of Ohio Conference titles, and
are today perennial favorites in the conference race,

oo on oe Ge ee oO an

Springfield College sponsored an athletic clinic at
Springfield, Mass., last June for high school coaches, The
court game was one of the important topics of discussion with
college and high school mentors demonstrating and showing the
various phases of the game, Springfield College basketball

players assisted in demonstrating and explaining the situations
devised by the coaches,