Dr. James Naismith is known world-wide as the inventor of basketball. He was born in 1861 in Ramsay township, near Almonte, Ontario, Canada. The concept of basketball was born from his school days in the area where he played a simple child's game known as duck-on-a-rock outside his one-room schoolhouse.

The game involved attempting to knock a "duck" off the top of a large rock by tossing another rock at it. Naismith later went on to lecture at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and later became McGill's Athletic Director.

He moved on to the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA in 1891 where the sport of basketball was born. In Springfield, Naismith was faced with the problem of finding a sport that was suitable for play inside during the Massachusetts winter. Naismith wanted to create a game of skill for the students instead of one that relied solely on strength. He needed a game that could be played indoors in a relatively small space.

The first game was played with only 13 rules and a football and two peach baskets used as goals, hence the name basket-ball. In addition to the creation of the sport, Naismith graduated as a medical doctor, primarily interested in sports physiology and what we would today call sports science and as Presbyterian minister, with a keen interest in philosophy and clean living. Naismith watched his sport, introduced in many nations by the YMCA movement as early as 1893.

Basketball was introduced at the Berlin Olympics in 1936 taking its first major steps towards becoming one of the worlds most popular sports. The USA unsurprisingly played Canada in the final, were the game was to be played ………….outside!

After a day of rain, the outdoor clay and sand court quickly became a swamp. In front of 2,000 soaked fans, the Americans, consisting of the Globe unit, took a 15-4 lead at halftime. The rain continued in the second half and both teams were only able to score a combined eight points as the U.S. held on to claim a 19-8 win. Fortenberry, a 6'8" center, actually equalled the entire Canadian roster with eight points. Because only seven players could suit up for a game, the Globe unit, which had defeated Canada, were the only U.S. players allowed to receive their Olympic gold medals at the ceremony.

The rest they say is history!!!!!!…….. Dr James Nasmith we salute you for we love this game