In trying to find an image of an old glass backboard, I came across these internet trivia tidbits:
Before backboards, the peach crate baskets were nailed to the gym's balcony. But the fans would get involved by interfering with players' shots. Also, without backboards, rebounding was not a part of the game.
By 1893, the first backboards were created to keep fans from interfering. They were originally made out of chicken wire, as were the baskets. With the addition of backboards, the game changed to include rebounding.
In 1904, wooden backboards became mandatory because of safety reasons, including injuries suffered from the chicken wire. By 1909, glass backboards were becoming common because of their aesthetic appeal. Modern regulated backboards are made of fiberglass. Fiberglass is harder to break and highly transparent
The first glass backboard was used by the Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball team at the Men's Gymnasium at Indiana University. After the first few games at their new facility in 1917, spectators complained that they couldn't see the game because of opaque wooden backboards. As a result the Nurre Mirror Plate Company in Bloomington was employed to create new backboards that contained one-and-a-half inch thick plate glass so that fans could see games without an obstructed view. As a result, it was the first facility in the country to use glass backboards.
Players initially began to use wire mesh backboards to prevent spectators in the balconies from interfering with play on the court. Wood replaced the easily dented wire mesh backboards in 1904, and leagues finally began approving the usage of plate glass backboards in 1909. However, backboards evolved beyond their initial conception and immediately gave a strategic boon to the game once players attempted to utilize them to bank in lay-ups and direct shots. The glass material is optimal for basketball because it provides plenty of bounce and rebound for the ball. There is a careful balance between the compression of the outer surface and the tension of the inner surface. Glass will not bend or dent and remains smooth even after long protracted use.
Future actor Chuck Connors was the first player known to have shattered a backboard. While playing for the Boston Celtics in 1946, Connors’ pre-game warm-up shot bounced off the rim and broke a backboard that was missing a protective rubber piece. Modern NBA backboards feature a breakaway rim, an innovation inspired by a pair of Darryl Dawkins rim-shattering dunks in 1979.
