Does anybody know who the first basketball player ever was? It's for my basketball class. I have a test tomarrow.

No, but the first basketball official was Jurassic Referee! :D

I would have to think it would James Naismith since he invented the game...I don't think he just drew it up on a chalk board....but if it wasn't Naismith, then it's someone at the YMCA where he was teaching when he did invent the game.

Sidenote...since B-Ball is played w/ 10 players and always has been, wouldn't the first player actually be the first 10 players? Boy this could get interesting.....

Hey JR...did you WHACK Naismith in the first game? :D

oh
 

Well, my teacher wanted to know who invented basketball and who was the frist player. So I'm not sure who I shoul put.

As I recall from stuff I've read, Naismith had 18 men in that class, so he divided them up 9 to a side. The five per side came later.

Also, I suspect that JR worked with Naismith that first game. :D

I will go up in my attic and check tomorrow. LOL

MTD, Sr.

Is that where is cage is? :D

Seriously - wouldn't the first basketball official have been Dr. Naismith himself?

Re: oh
 

In all seriousness, did your teacher give you any clues about where to find this information? I can't imagine it being printed anywhere!

Re: Re: oh
 

Hmmmm, how old is the teacher? ;)

Abuse.

Nothing but abuse.

Aren't there laws protecting the eldery and infirm?

I'm gonna talk to Dirty Harry about this. Watch out!

PS- Yeah, yeah, yeah.....I know. I left out the "diminished capacity" part of the "elderly and infirm".

Viagra rulz!!

The first basketball player was Og. He scored the first points ever when he cut off Moog's head and dunked it into a mastadon's mouth. He received a technical for hanging on the jaw.

The first referee, who was there, was Ugh. He wore fishnets. Not the stockings - real fishnets.

A series of entertaining books exist named "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader". Umpteen volumes exist by now -its a pretty popular series. Several years ago, I bought one that included a three-page history of basketball (volume 12). Very interesting.

According to "Uncle John", Naismith invented basketball more out of desperation than anything. The group of kids that were the first players were nicknamed the "incorrigibles" because of their, well, behavior.

Among the more interesting facts:

1. Why is the goal 10'? Because, that was the height of the balcony in the original gym.

2. Why backboards? It prevented spectators in the balcony immediately behind the goals from interfering with shots.

3. The original game had only 13 rules.

4. Number of players - BITS is right, the original game had nine players on a side. But, Naismith didn't have a rule on number of players. He thought team size should vary with court size and number of people who wanted to play. Cornell staged a game with 50 players on a side! In 1896, the first official five-player game was played between U of Chicago and U of Iowa.

5. Dribbling - the original game didn't allow dribbling.

I summarized the Uncle John's version and distributed it to my players a couple of years ago. If you want a copy, just e-mail me.