10 fun basketball facts to celebrate the inaugural World Basketball Day

MIES (Switzerland) - On August 25 this year, the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 tipped off in Manila, Okinawa and Jakarta - the first ever World Cup to be hosted in three countries.

Something else of great significance to the sport happened that day as well. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming 21 December as World Basketball Day. Basketball is the first team sport to receive this recognition.

The UN states that "basketball transcends borders, cultures, and languages. It serves as a unifying force where people from different backgrounds can come together, bond and communicate with each other, creating connections and breaking down barriers, and thereby contributing to peace.

Here are 10 fun facts about the sport, with the first showing you why World Basketball Day is on this precise date!

1 - First Basketball Game was played on December 21, 1891

A 30-year-old James Naismith, at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, introduced the first game of basketball. Using the 13 rules he'd created, two teams of nine players each competed against each other with players attempting to throw a soccer ball into a peach basket that had been attached to a balcony 10 feet above the floor.

2 - Senda Berenson held first women's college game on March 22, 1893

Smith College gymnastics instructor Senda Berenson, an immigrant from Lithuania, held the first women's college game in Northampton, Massachusetts. Eight hundred female students watched and cheered wildly. Almost a century later, Berenson was inducted posthumously into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

3 - YMCA Paris with the vintage court

In 1893, YMCA Paris constructed a building at 14, rue de Trévise in Paris, which it still owns. The building features several iconic spaces: a theater, a swimming pool, a hostel, workshops, and a gymnasium that houses the oldest basketball court in the world in its original state.

4 - Dream Team changes international basketball forever

No group of basketball players has ever captivated the world the way the Dream Team did at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, when Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird led a 12-man USA squad to gold. It was the first time NBA players competed at the Olympics, and that USA won every game by an average of 44 points.

5 - Dribbling not allowed!

That's right, in the original 13 Rules of basketball, dribbling was not allowed. Only passes. So there were no ankle-breakers, no players put on skates, as they say in today's basketball lingo. Thankfully, especially for players like Tim Hardaway, change came. First, in 1901, players were allowed to dribble the ball once, yet could not then shoot. Then in 1909, unlimited dribbling was permitted.

6 - The final score of that first game in 1891?

It was a low-scoring affair. The first basketball game organized by Naismith ended 1-0. Maybe that's not surprising when considering a soccer ball was used!

7  - Naismith had other strings to his bow

Naismith is the inventor of basketball, yet he made his mark in another sport as well. What many people do not know is that the great man invented the first rugby helmet.

8 - Meadowlark Lemon, Curly Neal and Lynette Woodard?

Woodard in 1985 became the first woman to play with the Harlem Globetrotters. The year before, Woodard was the second-leading scorer for the USA women's team that won the Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles.

9 - The years 1948 and 1949

If the Harlem Globetrotters are known for the shows they put on with dazzling play, unmatched fan interaction and side-splitting comedy in their games against the Washington Generals, make no mistake that this was always talented bunch! In 1948 and 1949, the Globetrotters stunned the world by defeating arguably the best of the NBA at the time, the Minneapolis Lakers.

10 - First FIBA Basketball World Cup in 1950

Played at Luna Park in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the tournament hosts won the inaugural world title by beating the USA, 64-50. Ten teams took part, including France and Spain, who shared a plane to Argentina to cut down on expenses. There was also reigning European champions Egypt - that's right, European champions!  Chile, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Yugoslavia also competed at the first World Cup.

FIBA