Naismith's original rules were typed up the morning he introduced the game. They were hung in the gym. He wrote on it, "First draft of Basket Ball rules. Hung in the gym that the boys might learn the rules—Decr 1891." The 13 original rules were published in January 1892 in the Springfield College school newspaper, The Triangle. The two-page typescript of Naismith's rules was sold at auction in December 2010. It sold for $4.3 million.
The Basketball Association of America, the BAA, launched with 11 teams, divided into two divisions, for its first season in 1946-47. Maurice Podoloff became commissioner of the new Basketball Association of America on June 6, 1946. He was also president of the American Hockey League. Walter Brown, president of the Boston Garden, helped establish the Basketball Association of America in 1946 and founded the Boston Celtics that year.
The first BAA champions were the Philadelphia Warriors, who beat the Chicago Stags 4-1 in 1947. Joe Fulks led the league in scoring at 23.2 points a game. On August 3, 1949, after a three-year battle for players and fans, the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League merged to form the NBA.
College rules kept changing. A rule from 1895-96 changed a field goal from three points to two, and a free throw from three points to one. Backboards were installed in college rules in the 1896-97 season. In 1908-09 a dribbler in college basketball was allowed to shoot. The dunk was made illegal in college games and warm-ups in 1967-68.
The National Invitation Tournament, the NIT, was founded in 1938, before the NCAA tournament began in 1939. In the first NCAA men's final, the Oregon Ducks, 29-5 on the season, beat Ohio State 46-33.
FIBA, the international federation, was founded on 18 June 1932 in Geneva, Switzerland. It had eight founding members: Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland.
Basketball made its Olympic debut as a demonstration sport at the 1904 Games in St. Louis, before becoming an Olympic medal event for men in 1936. The United States won the first seven Olympic men's basketball gold medals, through 1968, with a 63-game winning streak.
Wheelchair basketball began in the mid-1940s as rehabilitation for injured World War II veterans in the United States and the United Kingdom.
The NBA Board of Governors approved the WNBA on April 24, 1996. The WNBA announced eight teams for its first season: Charlotte, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Phoenix, Sacramento and Utah.
Words to know
- typescript: typed pages
- commissioner: league boss
- merged: joined together
- rehabilitation: getting better
- federation: group of groups
