Most basketball fans know that Dr. James Naismith created the game in 1891 using a ball and two peach baskets, but we haven’t heard the story from the man himself -- until now. The University of Kansas has released rare audio of an interview with Naismith from 1939, when the then 77-year-old told the popular radio show We the People just how bloody the first game of basketball was.
Hear rare audio of James Naismith explain how the first game of basketball was kids beating the crap out of each other
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James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
It began out of necessity to keep rowdy New England students occupied during a harsh winter, but there were problems.
”The boys began tackling. Kicking and punching in the clinches. They ended up in a free-for-all in the middle of the gym floor. Before I could pull them apart one boy was knocked out, several of them had black eyes and one had a dislocated shoulder. It certainly was murder.
After that first match I was afraid they’d kill each other, but they kept nagging me to let them play again -- so I made up some more rules. The most important one was that there should be no running with the ball -- that stopped tackling and slugging. We tried out the game with those rules and we didn’t have one casualty. We had a fine, clean sport. ”
The audio clips has more details about the evolution of the game and what it was like for Naismith to see basketball played at the Olympic games for the first time. It’s fascinating, an absolute treasure and worth a listen -- if only to awe at how great people spoke 80 years ago.
h/t @RichSandomir
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