Cold Open

It’s August 14th, 1936, in Berlin, Germany.

27-year-old Bill Wheatley waves his arm and calls for his teammate to pass.

Bill is captaining the United States team in the final of the first-ever Olympic basketball tournament. His team has a narrow lead. But it’s a tough game. Bill is used to playing indoors, in a heated gymnasium, but today, he’s outside, and heavy rain has turned the clay of the converted tennis court into a quagmire.

Bill’s teammate finally notices he’s open and passes the ball. But before Bill gets to it, a Canadian opponent reaches out and intercepts the pass. The Canadian player dribbles down the court…

…but his foot slips in a muddy puddle and he falls. Bill recovers the ball and turns. There’s nobody between him and the Canadian basket.

Bill dribbles up the court slamming the heavy ball on the wet clay to get it to bounce back and when he reaches the basket, Bill jumps…

…and shoots the ball into the hoop..

A smattering of applause breaks out as Bill gets ready for the next possession. He glances at the crowd, but all he can see are rows of umbrellas except on the front row, where an elderly gentleman stands and cheers enthusiastically despite getting soaked. Bill smiles as he recognizes the old man. It’s James Naismith—the inventor of basketball—and he’s having the time of his life.

When the clock runs out at the end of the game, the American team emerges victorious by 19 points to 8. A few minutes after the conclusion of the low-scoring final, Bill and his teammates are presented with their gold medals by 75-year-old guest of honor James Naismith. Despite the inclement weather, the basketball tournament is judged a success and basketball will remain an Olympic sport when the Olympic Games resume after World War Two. Then it will continue its ascension to become one of the world’s most popular sports—a journey that will began when James Naismith needed a new sport to keep a rowdy gym class under control on December 21st, 1891.

Introduction

From Noiser and Airship, I’m Lindsay Graham and this is History Daily.

History is made every day. On this podcast—every day—we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world.

Today is December 21st, 1891: An American Gym Teacher Invents Basketball.

Act One

It’s December 21st, 1891, in a gymnasium in Springfield, Massachusetts, forty-five years before basketball will debut as an Olympic sport.

31-year-old James Naismith climbs a ladder carrying a wooden peach basket. He balances on the top step, pulls a hammer from his pocket, and knocks a nail through the basket into the balcony rail, about ten feet up. When the basket is secure, James descends the ladder and stands back to admire his rudimentary handiwork.

A few months ago, James began a new job as a gym instructor at the International YMCA Training School, a college that specializes in educating young men to become employees of the YMCA. As part of his schedule, James was given one class with a reputation for causing trouble. James’s boss gave him orders to keep the rowdy group under control, but the boisterous students didn’t enjoy the boring exercises James used with other classes. So, James tried to burn off their energy by engaging them in competitive games—but his attempts to get the class to play indoor football, indoor soccer, and indoor lacrosse all failed due to the students’ tendency for rough play. Now, James is trying one more idea before he gives up and pleads with his boss to switch classes. This time, James has devised an entirely new sport to cut out pushing and shoving.

James drags the ladder across the gym and nails a second basket onto the balcony rail on the opposite wall. He then picks up a soccer ball, stands a few feet back, and throws the ball into the air. It loops up and drops into the basket. This is the clever concept James hopes will stop his students from spoiling the lesson. Rather than relying on raw power, his students will only be able to score if they get the ball in the basket with a controlled, arcing throw.

A few minutes later, the troublesome class enters the gym and James points to a list of rules taped to the wall and he explains the basics of the game—but he knows better than to keep talking to these energetic students too long. James quickly divides them into two teams of nine and then throws the ball up in the middle of the court to begin the game.

Within seconds, James worries that his new experiment is another failure. The game immediately descends into a brawl as players tackle the ball carrier to the floor.  James quickly stops the game and adds a new rule that players can’t run with the ball—they can only pass from a stationary position. This works—the students cut out the rough play and become engrossed in the game. Their energy is no longer focused on fighting or messing around, but on the best way to get the ball from one end of the court to another.

Then partway through the lesson, one of the players shoots the ball into the basket for a point. But now the ball is stuck in a basket ten feet up, and the game can’t resume until one of the players runs up to the balcony, leans over the rail, and pulls the ball out. But it’s not a problem that interrupts play again. Because by the time the lesson comes to an end, only one point has been scored.

But despite the low score, the class walks off with smiles on their faces and when James asks for feedback, it’s overwhelmingly positive. James asks the students to come up with a name for the new sport, and they decide on “basketball” after the peach baskets used as goals.

James then fine-tunes the rules based on the first game with his rowdy class, and he introduces basketball to the other classes he teaches. Before long, basketball is the most popular sport in the college. And three months after that very first game, a crowd of 200 crams into the gym to watch a team of students take on a team of staff, such is the interest of this game that even a local paper reports on the action. Then, as students graduate and take up positions in the YMCA, they take knowledge of basketball with them. And within a year, basketball games are being played at YMCA facilities across America and in France, China, and India.

Basketball will become so popular that organized leagues with professional teams will form. But as basketball spreads, the sport’s growth will be hampered by racial prejudice which will prevent the best teams from competing against each other in a segregated America.

Act Two

It’s December 20th, 1925, at the Renaissance Ballroom in Harlem, New York; thirty-four years after James Naismith invented basketball.

45-year-old Bob Douglas groans as the Original Celtics win the ball in the opening tip against the team that Bob owns and manages: the New York Renaissance, America’s first and best all-Black basketball team.

Two years ago, Bob formed the team, popularly known as the Rens. It was a daunting undertaking. After moving to New York from the West Indies in 1901, Bob faced discrimination from both his white and African American neighbors. At the time, a wave of Black Caribbean immigrants heightened competition for jobs and housing, breeding resentment among Black Americans. But Bob was determined to overcome these biases, and he set his aspirations high.

After learning about basketball in a New York gym, he formed an amateur team for Black children and adults. And as the nascent sport grew more professional, Bob didn’t want to get left behind. So, he struck a deal with William Roach, the West Indian owner of the Renaissance Casino and Ballroom in Harlem. Bob and William agreed that his new team would adopt the Renaissance name, and in return, Bob could use the ballroom as a venue for the team’s home games.

Since then, the Rens have beaten most of their opponents, and Bob and his players have become celebrities in the majority-Black neighborhood of Harlem. But Bob doesn’t just want the Rens to play other Black teams. He wants to challenge the best white basketball teams too. But a few months ago, when the American Basketball League was formed, only white teams were invited. Now, Bob wants to prove the Rens are good enough to compete in professional leagues by defeating the Original Celtics—a team most people consider to be the best in the country.

Within seconds, Bob’s mood worsens though, when the Celtics race down court and record the first score of the game putting the Celtics up 2-0. Bob shakes his head, discouraged to see his team fall behind before a Rens player hasn't even touched the ball.

But it’s not long before his team starts a comeback. When play restarts after the Celtics’ first basket, the Rens make an attack of their own—and they soon level the scores at two apiece. Then, the Rens get another two-pointer to go ahead on the scoreboard and after that, they score another to stretch their lead.

This is in part by the style of play while the Rens run rings around their opponents, the Celtics play basketball in the way that most teams do in the 1920s: suffocating an opponent with physical defense and retaining possession on offense. In contrast, the Rens adopt a style of play the Celtics haven’t seen before. They pass and move quickly, keeping up a fast pace before launching lightning attacks on the basket. At the end of the game, the Rens have an unexpected 37-30 victory. The Rens' celebrations continue long into the night at the Renaissance Ballroom.

But defeating the Celtics does not change the attitude of the businessmen who run all-white basketball teams. They continue to block all-Black teams from professional leagues. The Rens are limited to playing white teams only in meaningless exhibition games and on barnstorming tours across the United States.

But despite being excluded from the all-white leagues, the Rens gain a reputation as one of the best teams in the country. They rack up eighty-eight consecutive wins in the winter of 1932-33, and large crowds turn out to watch them. The Rens' continued success proves that all-Black teams can compete on a level playing field with white teams— they just need an opportunity to do so.

That chance arises in 1936, after basketball is included in the Olympic program for the first time. Amateur basketball players from twenty-one different countries compete for the gold medal. The popularity of the Olympic competition spurs a group of Chicago businessmen to establish a similar tournament for American professional teams. And three years later, Bob receives a letter inviting the Rens to compete in the first World Professional Basketball Tournament. Bob soon discovers that the tournament organizers were pressured into inviting the Rens by their old rivals, the Original Celtics. The Celtics were not prepared to play in the tournament unless the best teams across the country were invited—and that includes all-Black teams like the Rens.

So, over the course of three days in March 1939, the Rens proved they deserve their place in the tournament. They win all three of their games to take the title, beating the all-white Oshkosh All-Stars in the final in front of 3,000 spectators in the Chicago Coliseum.

The capacity crowd that packs out the final of the inaugural tournament will catch the eyes of another group of businessmen who usually focus their attention on a different sport: ice hockey. Soon, those ice hockey promoters will come together to create a new and more ambitious professional basketball league, and the sport will grow even further as basketball hits the mainstream.

Act Three

It’s November 1st, 1946, at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada; seven years after the New York Renaissance won the inaugural World Professional Basketball Tournament.

Ossie Schectman dribbles a basketball up the center of the court, flanked on either side by teammates from the New York Knickerbockers. As two players from the Toronto Huskies backpedal, Ossie takes a pass from his teammate and lays the ball up to score, recording not just the first points of the game, but the first points in a new professional league: the Basketball Association of America.

Six months ago, the owners of eleven ice hockey arenas in the Northeast and Midwest decided to create a new basketball league. They wanted an extra income stream when their ice hockey teams weren’t playing. So they came up with the idea to host basketball games on removable courts laid over the ice. It was an ambitious plan. Most professional basketball teams played in much smaller venues like dance halls and high school gymnasiums. But the ice hockey promoters were confident that basketball was a growing sport with the potential to fill large arenas. They just need players like Ossie to draw the crowds with an exciting brand of play.

And thanks to Ossie’s eleven points during the game, the Knickerbockers are victorious in a close game that finishes 68-66. As the season progresses, the players enjoy the experience of playing in bigger arenas, and the better fan facilities in the new league encourages more spectators to attend.

And as the popularity of the Basketball Association of America soars, players from rival professional leagues start to defect. In August 1949, the teams in the failing National Basketball League jump ship to the Basketball Association of America—and as part of the merger, the new league is renamed the National Basketball Association, or NBA.

Today, the NBA is one of the biggest sports leagues in the world. Several of its teams rank in the top ten richest sports franchises in the world, and modern-day basketball players have the highest average salary across all professional sports. But the sport played by global superstars like Steph Curry and LeBron James had humble origins as a game invented to keep a rowdy gym class in order on December 21st, 1891.

Outro

Next on History Daily. December 22nd, 1894. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish captain in the French army, is convicted of treason for allegedly passing military secrets to the Germans, beginning a scandal known as the Dreyfus Affair.

From Noiser and Airship, this is History Daily, hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsay Graham.

Audio editing by Muhammad Shahzaib.

Sound design by Katrina Zemrak.

Music by Lindsay Graham.

This episode is written and researched by Scott Reeves.

Executive Producers are Alexandra Currie-Buckner for Airship, and Pascal Hughes for Noiser.