Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1916-12-30

teamwork. Why not game, in which
ball should be tossed into large
baskets suspended at either end of a
gymnasium floor? Here was a form
of competition which satisfied all the
requirements. Equipment, too, was
readily available. Here was the floor,
and baskets suitable, at least, for ex-
perimental purposes, could be had for
few cents. But what of the ball?
This was the crux of Naismith's
problem. Having developed the new
game thus far, however, he did not
intend to let mere ball stand in the
way of actual accomplishment. Every
possible sphere was tried, large and
small, hard and soft. Practice showed
that it must be large to forestall the
temptation to carry it, and that it
must be inflated, both for purposes of
dribbling and to prevent injury to the
players. Finally the regulation asso-
citation football was adopted and
proved wholly satisfactory; the only
alternative was to wait for a ball to
be manufactured which should actu-
ally match Naismith's desires,
process which would have postponed
the inception of the game.
Basketball, then, if it owes any
thing at all to another game, owes it
to soccer. In every other respect it
is an absolute invention, and the
whole credit for bringing it into the
world belongs to James Naismith. To
soccer, also, it owes the most distinc-
tive world in it's technical Technology
-"dribble." Naismith's idea took.
By 1894 basketball babe fair to
span the world; it had reached as far
as Paris in one direction and clean
to Melbourne in the other. Even be-
fore this it had been taken up by
women gymnasts. The fame of the
game early spread to Smith College,
in Northampton, 20 miles from
Springfield, and interclass contests
became the vogue. A Smith College
correspondent for Springfield news
paper thus describes the game as it
was played in 1894:
"The class work alone, however, as
it leads to no immediate results in the
shape of contests, is apt to become
irksome, so basketball was intro
duced and met with immediate sue
cess. This game seems to take the
place of both football and baseball
in minor colleges. 1t is played with
a regular oblong football. The goals
consist of two iron baskets, something
over foot in diameter, and rung
about 10 feet from the ground. The
object is to throw the ball into the
opponents goal. Each team consists
of 10 girls, three at goal, who are
chosen for their height and sureness
of aim, so as to throw the ball into
the goal; three at home who have
to be skillful in batting and guarding,
and four in the center, who have to
do quick and sure work. No one is
allowed to run with the ball, but must
throw it."
How little basketball has changed
since Naismith's day is evidenced in
its flexible rules. Rule l, section 1, OF
the official rules says that the game
"may be played on any grounds free
from obstruction" measuring not in
excess of $4,000 square feet of actual
playing space" The size of the ball,
the diameter Of the basket and its
height from the floor, the number of
men to side-these details have, of
course, been standardized. But in
virtually every other respect, basket
ball is the identical game which
James Naismith deliberately sat down
to invent in order to eliminate the
tedium form gymnasium work.