Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1919-12-07
C0MESNOM BASKETBALL, ONLY SPORT
OFPURELY AMERICAN ORIGIN, CLAIMING
FOLLOWERS IN EvERY LAND AND CLINE
of Great Indoor Pasme Outset of From
Pen Of Noted Athletic Chronicer Bass Kitosser Game
Conceived by Jimmy Naismith in 90 Now Has Sway in
Every School and Club in America

I quickly, both here and abroad because
graduates of the school also went to
| foreign countries.
| At first the game made but slow
| progress as any new game is fairly
| slow to be taken up. Y. M. G. AS were
the first to aid the game in it's spread,
but despite this colleges and schools
did not take 1t UP very extensively at
| once. Many athletes first considered
the indoor game q girls pastime rather
than a mans sport.
The new game did not long remain
in the background, however, but rap
idly came TO the front. Colleges, uni
versities and high schools began play
ing the game and it soon made rapid
strides to take its place as the major
indoor game.
Today it is the most extensively
played game We have. The official
basketball guides show that the game
is not only played by every grammar
school high school, college. university,
athletic club and Y. NJ. C. A. in our
own country, but is also played in
South America, Mexico and some Euro
pean lands. This cannot be said of any
other athletic game. Not even track
athletics, the oldest form of athletic
competition, can be said to have so
wide a vogue.
The first big boost given the indoor
game was the tournament at the ST.
Louis worlds fair in 1904. At that
time the famous Buffalo Orioles car
ried off first honors. They took sew
eral trips westward later and helped
spread the game.
Since then tournaments have been
conducted in various parts of the
country and this he's given the game
a position not attained by any other
sport. Three day tournaments have
been conducted in which as many as 40
teams have played and an undisputed
champion has emerged. In this re-
spect basketball is unique because II
would be impossible for 40 teams In
any other team game to get together
and In tournament by elimination de-
eide championship in three days. :
The style OF play first used was long
passing, but this style of game did not
permit scientific passing and team
play. In 1905 Emmett Angel, who was
then coach at the University of Wis
consin, introduced bewildering short
pass game which defeated all oppo-
nents for two seasons. Now the long
pass game is practically in the discard.
On the Atlantic coast there are pro-
fessional basketball leagues the same
as in baseball. Since 1909 there has
been the Eastern league comprising
teams in Pennsylvania and New Jer-
sey, generally playing 40-game Sched-
ule. The games are played in a cage
which has a net or wire screen around
the side and end lines. This elimi-
mates out-of- bound play and makes
play faster in consequence
Another league was the New York
State league, comprising seven New
York teams and one New Jersey team.
They also played in a cage and in adj
dition had no backboards. This neces-
STATED clean" shots, not caromed off
a board, and made for better basket
shooting. This was proven when Troy,
five times New York State league PEN
nant winner, travelled west after their
league broke up in 1915. The New
Workers played 38 games and won them
all. They piled UP 1929 points in the
30 contests, or an average of SO points
a game.
In the west, however, pro" basket
ball has never gained a foothold, but
there are many independent teams.
The most notable are Illinois A. C. of
Chicago, Buckeye Paints of Toledo, De-
troit Rayls, Kansas City A. c., Triple
B" of Billings, Multnomah A. A. c.,
Olympic A. c., Los Angeles A. C. and
ReXburg Qdaho) A. G.