By Kim J. Harmon

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts – Okay, if there was a Hall of Fame to go to this past weekend, it would have been either the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, or the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

But, then again, there’s really nothing wrong with taking a summer trip to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, is there? With guys like Allan Houston signing $100 million contracts and teams worried so much about the luxury tax they are shedding contracts like a snake sheds its skin, basketball has been in the news quite a bit over the past few weeks.

And tip of for the 2001-02 season is less than three months away.

So, why not take a ride?

Naismith And Peach Baskets

Even though it may appear that the Olmecs of 10th-century Mexico played pok-ta-pok and the Aztecs and Mayans played tlachtli (or ollamalitzli), games very similar to basketball (but much less brutal – the losers were often beheaded), Dr James Naismith is credited with inventing the game of basketball in 1891.

According to the story, Dr Naismith was challenged by Luther Halsey Gulick, physical education director of the YMCA Training School (later known as Springfield College) to develop a new indoor sport that would be interesting and challenging for a class (affectionately called The Incorrigibles) that was bored with the calisthenics regimen that formed their daily physical education requirements.

Because of the limitations of an indoor arena, Dr Naismith had to develop a game that was simple to learn and interesting . . . but one which wouldn’t damage either the players or the gymnasium. It took much trial and error.

As Dr Naismith wrote (in a paper entitled Basketball: Its Origin and Development, published in 1996) –

My first generalization was that all team games used a ball of some kind; therefore, any new game must have a ball. Two kinds of balls were used at that time, one large, and the other small. I noted that all games that used a small ball had some intermediate equipment with which to handle it. Cricket and baseball had bats, lacrosse and hockey had sticks, tennis and squash had rackets. In each of these games, the use of the intermediate equipment made the game more difficult to learn. The Americans were at sea with a lacrosse stick, and the Canadians could not use a baseball bat.

The game that we sought would be played by many; therefore, it must be easy to learn. Another objection to a small ball was that it could be easily hidden. It would be difficult for a group to play a game in which the ball was in sight only part of the time.

I then considered a large ball that could be easily handled and which almost anyone could catch and throw with very little practice. I decided that the ball should be large and light, one that could be easily handled and yet could not be concealed. There were two balls of this kind then in use, one the spheroid of Rugby and the other the round ball of soccer. It was not until later that I decided which one of these two I would select.

The type of a ball being settled, I turned next to the point of interest of various games. I concluded that the most interesting game at that time was American Rugby. I asked myself why this game could not be used as an indoor sport. The answer to this was easy. It was because tackling was necessary in Rugby. But why was tackling necessary? Again the answer was easy. It was because the men were allowed to run with the ball, and it was necessary to stop them. With these facts in mind, I sat erect at my desk and said aloud:  “If he can’t run with the ball, we don’t have to tackle; and if we don’t have to tackle, the roughness will be eliminated.”

I can still recall how I snapped my fingers and shouted, “I’ve got it!”

 

As he worked out the philosophy of the game and its rules, he began to search for a goal and came upon the superintendent of buildings, a Mr Stebbins. Dr Naismith asked for a couple of boxes, but Mr Stebbins had only a couple of peach baskets.

And, thus, the game would become known as basket ball (later changed to basketball, one word) rather than box ball.

Because the game of basketball was invented in Springfield, Massachusetts (if not 10th-century Mexico), then it seemed only fitting that the sports’ Hall of Fame would be located in Springfield. At a cost of $11.5 million, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame was open on February 17, 1968, on the campus of Springfield College.

Now, 33 years later, the city of Springfield is about to unveil its new Hall of Fame (actually, it is due to open in the summer of 2002) – part of a $103 million project to revitalize the city’s waterfront area.

Walking Through

As you are about to walk through the door and step into the world of organized basketball (and we’re talking about all or organized basketball, from pro leagues like the NBA, WNBA, ABL, ABA, WBL, LPBA, WABA, NWBA, NBL to college basketball) you are urged to start on the third level and work your way down.

And once you get by life-sized statue of Larry Bird at the top of the stairs, you can follow along with the history of the game.

Step into the actual Hall of Fame gallery itself and visit with some of the all-time greats like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Paul Arizin, George Gervin, John Havlicek, Sam Jones, Bob Lanier, or Pistol Pete Maravich . . . or step into the first room where the origins of the game are displayed through pictures and timelines (as an actual peach basket hangs overhead).

Now, there seems to be some confusion in dates – where one moment you are reading that the first intercollegiate game took place in 1895, the first women’s college game (intramural) took place in 1893 (the freshmen beat the sophomores, 19-18) and yet the first ball was made in 1885 (six years before Dr Naismith even invented the game).

No matter – visit with Senda Berenson Abbott (1893), the mother of women’s basketball; or move along and see the all-black New York Renaissance team that barnstormed in 1922 and even split a six-game series with the Original Celtics of 1926-27; stop off and see why basketball players are called cagers (because, early on, the game became violent and cages were erected around the court to prevent the violence from spilling into the stands . . . and vice-versa. Referees, at the time, were even known to carry guns).

Then there is the display from the 1926 National High School championship, which Fitchburg (Massachusetts) defeated Fargo (North Dakota), 28-14, using a ball that had laces.

And a display called When I Played High School Basketball in which athletes such as Jackie Robinson, Lou Boudreau and Hank Greenberg comment on their lives in basketball. Greenberg, a noted wartime slugger with the Detroit Tigers, said, “In high school, I was better at basketball than I was baseball. I liked the physical contract and, unlike baseball, there was always a lot of action on the basketball court.”

As you move on down to the second floor, there are displays for the NCAA Final Four, the NAIA, and the NIT Tournaments and a place where you can see the CCNY team which, in 1950, won both the NIT and NCAA Tournaments in the same season . . . one year before being accused of point-shaving.

Then there are exhibits for the women’s game, the famous coaches (such as John Wooden and Red Auerbach), Olympic exhibits, and an AAU Exhibit which features the yellow jersey of one of the original stars of women’s basketball, Ann Meyers. Anna’s Bananas, as they were called, won national titles in 1977, ’78 and ’79.

Kids would like the game room and the hallway in front, where they can compare their shoes to the shoes of basketball’s greatest stars (like Bob Lanier and his size 22s, which are bronzed and on display next to an actual piece of the court on which Michael Jordan sank one of his famous buzzer beater shots in the NBA Finals).

Of course, one of the biggest hits, is the Spalding Shootout room where would-be players can shoot basketballs and many different types of baskets – near and far. Then there is the Elks Virtual Reality Game – a simulation where a would-be player is actually thrust onto a court and can shoot in a simulated (but not terribly well-simulated) video game.

There is more, too, like the Globetrotter’s exhibit and the Converse Theater (where someone can see, perhaps, the University of Connecticut take on the University of Tennessee in the famous NCAA women’s basketball championship game) and visits from players like Julius Erving, Vinny Del Negro, and Travis Best.

And, sure, while the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame might have been the places to be this past weekend, there is nothing wrong with a trip up I-91 to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Why not take a ride?