James Naismith's Birthday
Next: November 6, 2026
A teacher, two peach baskets, a game.
The story
Where it comes from
James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, was born near Almonte, Ontario, in Canada on 6 November 1861. In the winter of 1891 he was teaching physical education at the International YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, and was asked to devise an indoor game for the cold months. He wrote thirteen rules, nailed two peach baskets to the gym balcony, and on 21 December 1891 his class of eighteen men played the first game, nine a side, with a soccer ball.
How it's celebrated
There is no organised day, but it is a good excuse for a game of your own. The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield carries his name, and his original thirteen rules are on display at the University of Kansas, where he founded the basketball programme in 1898 and taught for the rest of his life.
Did you know
- Naismith modelled the arcing shot on 'duck on a rock', a game from his Canadian childhood.
- At 74, he travelled to the 1936 Berlin Olympics to see basketball become an Olympic sport and presented the medals; the final was played outdoors in pouring rain.
- The Philippines finished fifth in basketball at those 1936 Games, losing only once, to the eventual champions, the United States.
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