In 1891, as a thirty-year old physical education instructor for the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, Dr. James Naismith invented "basket ball". Naismith wrote and developed basketball's original thirteen rules, then brought basketball to Kansas University, where he taught the game to future Hall of Fame coaches Phog Allen and John McLendon. Naismith helped to develop the NAIB/NAIA Tournament and witnessed basketball's introduction as an Olympic sport at the 1936 Games held in Berlin. Today, Dr. Naismith's game has grown into a sport played by more than 300 million men, women, boys, and girls worldwide.

Died November 28, 1939