Rams Record

Basketball

By Michael

So it is that time of year, our 5th and 6th grade basketball season is starting. There are two teams and soon I will hear what team I am on. First we will have a tournament with only 9 out of the 12 kids that are on the team to figure out the seeding. Before we know it games will be starting. The story of how basketball actually was invented is a very interesting one. Back in 1891, James Naismith had been to teach P.E. at a YMCA training school in Springfield, Massachusetts. The kids he was going to teach were being bad, so Naismith was told to invent a new game to keep them busy. Since it was winter and very cold outside, the game would have to be able to be played indoors. He got the idea of nailing up raised boxes that players would try to throw a ball into. When he couldn’t find boxes he used peach baskets. Naismith created the rules for the new game in "about an hour." Most of the rules still are used in some form today.  He was the first great college basketball coach. Forrest Allen, who played for Naismith at the University of Kansas, went on to win 771 games when he was a coach at Kansas. Allen was a great coach himself and also coached many star players, one of the most well known was Wilt Chamberlain, who became a professional basketball superstar. On one night in 1962, Wilt scored a record 100 points in a game.