At Springfield YMCA, Naismith found teaching difficult. His class was restless and irritable because they had to stay inside in the winter. Dr. Luther Gulick, leader of the Springfield YMCA Physical Education, told Naismith to make up a game that could be played inside which would be a good "athletic distraction" in 14 days. Gulick said that it should not need too much room, help the athletes keep healthy, and was "fair for all players and not too rough."
Naismith was guided by three main thoughts. Firstly, he studied the most popular games of those times (rugby, lacrosse, soccer, football, hockey and baseball). He saw the danger of a small fast ball and decided that the big soft soccer ball was safest. Secondly, he saw that most physical contact happened while running with the ball, dribbling or hitting it. He decided that passing was the only legal option. Finally, Naismith further reduced body contact by making the goal unguardable, by putting it high above the player's heads. To score goals, he made players throw a soft lobbing shot that he had used in his old favorite game "duck on a rock". Naismith called this new game "Basket Ball" and put wrote down the 13 basic rules.
The first game of "Basket Ball" was played in December 1891. The teams had nine players, and used a soccer ball. The goals were a pair of peach baskets: "When Mr. Stubbins brot [sic] up the peach baskets to the gym I secured them on the inside of the railing of the gallery. This was about 10 feet from the floor, one at each end of the gymnasium. I then put the 13 rules on the bulletin board just behind the instructor's platform, secured a soccer ball and awaited the arrival of the class... The class did not show much enthusiasm but followed my lead... I then explained what they had to do to make goals, tossed the ball up between the two center men & tried to keep them somewhat near the rules. Most of the fouls were called for running with the ball, though tackling the man with the ball was not uncommon."
The first rules did not include what is now called dribbling. Since the ball could only be moved up the court with a pass, early players tossed the ball over their heads as they ran up court. Also, following each "goal" a jump ball was taken in the middle of the court. Both practices are no longer used in the rules of modern basketball.
By 1892, basketball had grown so popular on campus that Dennis Horkenbach (editor-in-chief of "The Triangle", the Springfield college newspaper) featured it in an article called "A New Game". There were calls to name the new game "Naismith Ball", but Naismith refused. By 1893, basketball was introduced in other countries by the YMCA movement. From Springfield, Naismith went to Denver where he studied for a medical degree and in 1898 he joined the University of Kansas faculty at Lawrence, Kansas.
The University of Kansas started a men's basketball program in 1898, following Naismith's arrival. This was only six years after Naismith had invented the game. Naismith was employed as chapel director and physical education instructor. In these early days, most basketball games were played against nearby YMCA teams. The YMCA's across the nation played a very important part in the birth of basketball. Other common opponents were Haskell Indian Nations University and William Jewell College. With Naismith as coach, the team played only three current Big 12 schools: Nebraska (six times), Missouri (twice), and Kansas State (once). Naismith was, ironically, the only coach in the program's history to have a losing record (55–60). However, Naismith coached Forrest "Phog" Allen, who took over as coach at Kansas. Allen was also added to the Basketball Hall of Fame. When Allen became a coach himself and told him that he was going to coach basketball at Baker University in 1904, Naismith said to him: "You can't coach basketball; you just play it." Allen began a coaching career that would lead him to be known as "the Father of Basketball Coaching." During his time at Kansas, Allen coached Dean Smith (1952 National Championship team) and Adolph Rupp (1922 Helms Foundation National Championship team). When Dean Smith retired as head Basketball coach at North Carolina he had the most wins in college basketball history, second was Adolph Rupp (Kentucky) and third was Allen. The three coaches have joined Naismith as members of the Basketball Hall of Fame.
By the turn of the century, there were enough college teams in the east of the U.S. that the first games between different colleges could be played. Although his sport continuously grew, Naismith long regarded his game as a curiosity and preferred gymnastics and wrestling as better forms of physical education. However, basketball became a demonstration sport at the 1904 Games in St. Louis, USA. As the Basketball Hall of Fame reports, Naismith was not interested in self-promotion nor in the glory of competitive sports. Instead, he was more interested in his physical education career, receiving an honorary PE Masters degree in 1910, patrolled the Mexican border for four months in 1916 during World War I, travelled to France, published two books ("A Modern College" in 1911 and "Essence of a Healthy Life" in 1918) and became an American citizen in 1925.
In 1935, the National Association of Basketball Coaches (created by Naismith's pupil Phog Allen) collected money so that the 74-year old Naismith could witness the introduction of basketball into the official Olympic sports program of the 1936 Summer Olympic Games. There, Naismith handed out the medals to three North American teams; United States, for the Gold Medal, Canada, for the Silver Medal, and Mexico, for their Bronze medal win. During the Olympics, he was named the Honorary President of the International Basketball Federation. When Naismith returned he commented that seeing the game played by many nations was the greatest compensation he could have received for his invention. In 1937, Naismith played a role in the formation of the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball, which later became the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
In his later years, Naismith became Professor Emeritus in Kansas and retired in 1937 at the age of 76. Including his years as coach, Naismith served as athletic director and faculty at the school for a total of almost 40 years. Naismith died in 1939 after he suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage and was buried in Lawrence, Kansas. Posthumously, his masterwork "Basketball — its Origins and Development" was published in 1941. In Lawrence, Kansas, James Naismith has a road named in his honor, Naismith Drive, which runs in front of Allen Fieldhouse (the official address of Allen Fieldhouse is 1700 Naismith Drive), Kansas University's basketball arena. It is a separated, four-lane road that runs north and south from University Drive south to its end at 24th street, just south of the KU campus. The university also named the court in Allen Fieldhouse, "James Naismith Court" in his honor. Naismith Hall, a college residential dormitory, is located on the northeastern edge of 19th Street and Naismith Drive.
In 1898, Naismith became the first college basketball coach of the University of Kansas basketball team. His record of 55 wins and 60 losses, means he became the only Kansas coach to have a losing record. Nevertheless, Naismith has one of the greatest coaching legacies in basketball history, as he coached Basketball Hall of Fame coach Phog Allen, who himself coached Hall of Fame coaches Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp, and Ralph Miller at the University of Kansas.