The only major sport strictly of U.S. origin, basketball was invented by James Naismith (1861-1939) on or about Dec. 1, 1891, at the International Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) Training School (now Springfield College), Springfield, Mass., where Naismith was an instructor in physical education. Naismith prepared a set of 13 simple rules embodying five principles that still govern today's game:

1. There must be a ball--large, light, and handled with the hands. 2. There shall be no running with the ball. 3. No member of either team shall be restricted from getting the ball at any time it is in play. 4. Both teams are to occupy the same area, yet there is to be no personal contact. 5. The goal shall be horizontal and elevated.

Naismith used as goals two half-bushel peach baskets, which gave the sport its name. The students were enthusiastic. After much running and shooting, William R. Chase chanced to connect on a mid-court shot and that historic contest ended in a 1-0 score. The Springfield students went home on Christmas vacation and told their friends and the local YMCA people about the newly invented game. Numerous associations wrote Naismith for a copy of the rules, which were published in the Jan. 15, 1892, issue of the Triangle, the campus paper.

The game caught on quickly in the United States, and in 1896 the first college basketball game with five team members on a side was played at the University of Iowa.

During the 1930s several rules were changed to speed up the game; e.g., each team had 10 seconds in which to advance the ball beyond midcourt or lose possession of it, and a player could not stand inside the opposing team's foul area (in front of the basket) for more than three seconds. The centre jump was eliminated, and the adoption of the one-hand shot led to higher scoring games. The presentation of college games at large exhibition arenas in major cities contributed greatly to the popularity of basketball as a spectator sport.

With the inclusion of basketball in the Olympic Games in 1936, the game gained worldwide attention. The Federation Internationale de Basketball Amateur was organized in 1932 to govern the international game, establishing world championships for men in 1950 and for women in 1953. In the Olympic Games, the U.S. men's team has been dominant and from 1992 was composed of professional players. In women's Olympic competition, contested since 1976, the U.S. and Soviet teams have been most successful.

In the early years, the number of players on a team varied according to the number in the class and the size of the playing surface. In 1894 teams began to play with five on a side when the playing surface was less than 1,800 square feet (167.2 square metres); the number rose to seven when the gymnasium measured from 1,800 to 3,600 square feet and up to nine when the playing areas exceeded that. In 1895 the number was occasionally set at five by mutual consent and, two years later, the rules stipulated five, and this number has remained.

Since five of Naismith's original players were Canadians, not surprisingly Canada was the first country outside the United States to play the game. Basketball was introduced in France in 1893, in London in 1894, in Australia, China, and India soon thereafter, and in Japan in 1900.

While basketball helped swell the membership of YMCAs because of the availability of their gyms, within five years the game was outlawed by various associations because where the gyms formerly were occupied by classes of 50 or 60 members, the areas were now monopolized by only 10 to 18 players. The banishment of the game induced many members to terminate their YMCA membership and to hire halls to play the game, thus paving the way to the professionalization of the sport.

Originally, players wore one of three styles of uniforms: knee-length football trousers; jersey tights, as commonly worn by wrestlers; and short padded pants, forerunners of today's uniforms, plus knee guards. The courts often were of irregular shapes with occasional obstructions such as pillars, stairways, or offices that interfered with play. In 1903 it was ruled that all boundary lines must be straight. In 1893 the Narragansett Machinery Co., of Providence, R.I., marketed a hoop of iron with a hammock style of basket. Originally, a ladder, then a pole, and finally, a chain fastened to the bottom of the net was used to retrieve a ball after a goal had been scored. Nets open at the bottom were adopted in 1912-13. In 1895-96 the points for making a basket (field goal) were reduced from three to two, and for making a free throw (shot uncontested from a line in front of the basket after a foul had been committed) from three to one.

At first, spectators behind the basket leaned over the railings and deflected the ball to favour one side or hinder the other, and in 1895 teams were urged to provide a four-by-six-foot screen for the purpose of eliminating interference. Soon after, wooden backboards proved more suitable. Glass backboards were legalized by the professionals in 1908-09 and by colleges in 1909-10. Fan-shaped backboards were made legal in 1940-41, and transparent backboards, although commonly used in public auditoriums since the mid-1930s, were finally authorized in 1946-47. In 1920-21 the backboards were moved two feet, and in 1939-40 four feet, in from the end lines to reduce frequent stepping out-of-bounds.

A soccer ball was used for the first two years. In 1894 the first basketball was marketed. It was laced, close to 32 inches (81 centimetres) or about four inches larger than the soccer ball in circumference, and weighed less than 20 ounces. By 1948-49 when the laceless molded ball was made official, the size had been set at 30 inches.

The distinction of becoming the first college to play the game belongs to either Geneva College (Beaver Falls, Pa.) or the University of Iowa. C.O. Bemis heard about the new sport at Springfield and tried it out with his students at Geneva in 1892. At Iowa, H.F. Kallenberg, who attended Springfield in 1890, wrote Naismith for a copy of the rules and also presented the game to his students. At Springfield, Kallenberg met Amos Alonzo Stagg, who became athletic director at the new University of Chicago in 1892. The first college basketball game with five on a side was played at Iowa City, Iowa, on Jan. 18, 1896. The University of Chicago won, 15-12, with neither team using a substitute. Kallenberg refereed that game, a common practice in that era--and some of the spectators took exception to some of his decisions.

The colleges formed their own rules committee in 1905, and by 1913 there were at least five sets of rules: the collegiate, YMCA-Amateur Athletic Union, and state militia groups, and two varieties of professional rules. Teams often agreed to play under a different set for each half of a game. To establish some measure of uniformity, the colleges, AAU, and YMCA formed the Joint Rules Committee in 1915. This group was renamed the National Basketball Committee (NBC) of the United States and Canada in 1936 and until 1979 served as the game's sole amateur rule-making body. In that year, however, the colleges broke away to form their own rules committee, and during the same year the National Federation of State High School Associations likewise assumed the task of establishing separate playing rules for the high schools. The NCAA Rules Committee for men is a 12-member board composed of representatives from six Division I schools and three each from Divisions II and III. It has jurisdiction over colleges, junior colleges, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and Armed Forces basketball. There is a similar body for women's play.

The first professional league was the National Basketball League (NBL), formed in 1898. Their game differed from the college game in that a chicken-wire cage typically surrounded the court, separating players from often hostile fans. (Basketball players were long referred to as cagers.) The chicken wire was soon replaced with a rope netting, off which the players bounced like prizefighters in a boxing ring. The cage also kept the ball from going out of bounds, thus quickening the pace of play. In these early days players were also permitted to resume dribbling after halting. Despite the lively action of the game, the NBL and other early leagues were short-lived, mostly because of the frequent movement of players, who sold their services on a per-game basis. With players performing for several cities or clubs within the same season, the leagues suffered games of unreliable quality and many financially unstable franchises.