Naismith audio interview discovered

LAWRENCE - Basketball is feeling a stronger connection to its past this week after the release of an audio interview with the sport's inventor, James Naismith.

A University of Kansas researcher, Michael J. Zogry, discovered the audio last month at the Library of Congress in which Naismith tells a New York radio station how the sport came to be in 1891.

Speaking to WOR-AM on 31 January 1939, Naismith said there was a sense of urgency at the Springfield YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, to create something the students could pour their energy into because of a "real New England blizzard" that was leading to "roughhousing" in the hallways.

Dr. Luther Gulick, the head of Springfield YMCA Physical Education, gave Naismith a couple of weeks to create a new game that could be played indoors.

Gulick also stressed that the game had to be fair for all players and did not want it to be too rough.

Naismith put up two peach baskets, came up with two teams of nine players each and the rest is history. The game that was played in December of 1891 was far from perfect. In fact, it was far too physical.

"I didn't have enough (rules), and that's where I made my big mistake," Naismith recalled of that first-ever contest.

He came up with 13 original rules of the game soon after inventing it. The original manuscript of those rules were sold at auction and are now housed at the University of Kansas, where Naismith worked for four decades.

The Naismith name is a powerful one that is attached to numerous honors and awards. The Naismith Trophy is presented to the winning side of the FIBA Basketball World Cup. 

FIBA