1940 — TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS —

THE WORLD SERIES OF BASKETBALL — 1940

 

A MEMORIAL TO DR. JAMES A. NAISMITH
Creator of the Game of Basketball

The late Dr. James Naismith invented the game of Basket-
ball in 1891 while in attendance at the Springfield, Mass.,
Y. M. C. A. College. This creative effort followed the urgent
request of Dr. Luther Halsey Gulick, a Professor, to take
care of eighteen football players who had no athletic sport
to occupy them following the end of the football season.
At that time Doctor Naismith was an ordained minister as
also was Alonzo Stagg, former athletic director of the

University of Chicago. Doctor Naismith evolved the funda-

 

mentals of basketball using peach baskets for goals. The
following year, 1892, the first games were played.

“Basketball is a game easy to play but difficult to
master,” was one of the pertinent comments of Doctor
Naismith. When the National Association of Basketball
Coaches created a Naismith Night prior to the last Olympic
games and had raised a fund of $7,000.00 as an honorarium
for him, Doctor Naismith made this laconic statement: “Do
not be afraid to work for humanity and wait for your
reward.”

 

THE NATIONAL COLLEGIATE ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

Western Championships and National Finals

The N. C. A. A. 1940 Championship Basketball Games
are played with the district winners of the West meeting in
Kansas City, March 22 and 23, and the district winners of
the East meeting at Indianapolis on the same dates. The
World Series of Basketball with the Eastern and Western
winners meeting for the National Title follows at the
Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, Missouri, March 30.

Dr. Forrest C. Allen of the University of Kansas, Lawrence,
Kansas, is chairman of the fifth district and managing
director for the Kansas City Tournament play.

Following are the members of the General Committee
for the 1940 Tournaments:

J. W. Sinclair, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Tex.
Hec. Edmundston, Washington University, Seattle.

Dr. Forrest C. Allen, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Ks.
B. T. Grover, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio.

H. G. Olsen, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio—
Chairman, N. C. A. A. Basketball Tournament.

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