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4

Peach Baskets and Posterity

A half century ago two peach baskets altered
the course of sports history —two peach baskets in
the provident hands of an able, courageous and far-
seeing man named James Naismith. Today, the
product of his athletic genius, occupies in whole-
some endeavor millions upon millions of healthy
young Americans engaged in the game of Basket-
ball.

W hat the late Dr. Naismith originated in
Springfield, Mass., in the Winter of 1891 has
come to be the nation’s leading sport in point of
competitors and spectators with a brilliant history
of constructive physical development wherever
it has been played. Launched among colleges and
schools, basketball rapidly spread to the recreation
departments of churches, clubs, social agencies,
industrial concerns and even won over the whole-
hearted interest of the women, who now play an
important role in the affairs of the game.

No better time could exist than right now to
pay homage to one man who brought so much joy
into the hearts of Americans without worldly bene-
fit to himself, while elsewhere about us other men
are exploiting humanity for their own selfish gain.
Dr. James Naismith has taken his place among the
Immortals of Sports and the idea to perpetuate his
memory and his vital contribution to the American
scene in the Naismith Memorial at Springfield
should receive the wholehearted support of every

red-blooded player and fan in the country.

Aussie