page_title: Christian Steinmetz
section_title: 1903 and 1904 seasons
hierarchical_section_title: Christian Steinmetz / University of Wisconsin / 1903 and 1904 seasons
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of 1903 Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team
context_page_description: Christian Steinmetz was an American basketball player. He played forward for the University of Wisconsin from 1903 to 1905. He was college basketball's leading scorer in the game's first 25 years from 1895 to 1920. He became known as the "Father of Wisconsin Basketball" and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1961.
context_section_description: Basketball was in its infancy at the University of Wisconsin when Steinmetz arrived.  The team was jokingly called the "squat tag team," had no coach and received no financial support from the university.  Players supplied their own equipment, and Steinmetz later recalled the worn condition of the balls they had to use: "We seldom saw a new ball.  The ones we used had lumps and corners on them."
  In 1904, Emmett Angell became the coach of the basketball team.  The Badgers lost to Nebraska 24–22 for the western championship.  Steinmetz recalled that Wisconsin lost the game when "a fan sitting right on the edge of the court grabbed our guard's arm and kept him from throwing the ball in as time ran out."  Steinmetz noted that they were running a set play in which Steinmetz would break down court, and Zuppke would throw a long, lead pass to him.  After the fan's illegal participation, a "free-for-all battle" broke out, and Nebraska was declared the winner.
caption: 1903 Wisconsin basketball team (Steinmetz in middle holding ball)
exif: {}