The early years

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 area. In 1894 teams began to play with five on a side when the playing area was less than 1,800 square feet (167.2 square meters); the number rose to seven when thegymnasium measured from 1,800 to 3,600 square feet (334.5 square meters) and up to nine when the playing area exceeded that. In 1895 the number was occasionally set at five by mutual consent; the rulesstipulated five players two years later, and this number has remained ever since.

Since Naismith and five of his original players were Canadians, it is not surprising thatCanada was the first country outside theUnited States to play the game. Basketball was introduced inFrance in 1893, inEngland in 1894, inAustralia,China, andIndia soon thereafter, and inJapan in 1900.

Get Unlimited Access

Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.

Subscribe

While basketball helped swell the membership of YMCAs because of the availability of theirgyms, within five years the game was outlawed by various associations because gyms that had been occupied by classes of 50 or 60 members were now monopolized by only 10 to 18 players. The banishment of the gameinduced 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-lengthfootball trousers; jersey tights, as commonly worn by wrestlers; or short padded pants, forerunners of today’s uniforms, plus knee guards. The courts often were of irregular shape 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 theNarragansett Machinery Co. ofProvidence,Rhode Island, 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 (goal, or field goal) were reduced from three to two, and the points for making a free throw (shot uncontested from a line in front of the basket after a foul had been committed) were reduced from three to one.

Baskets were frequently attached to balconies, making it easy for spectators behind a basket to lean over the railings and deflect the ball to favor one side andhinder the other; in 1895 teams were urged to provide a 4-by-6-foot (1.2-by-1.8-meter) screen for the purpose of eliminating interference. Soon after, woodenbackboards proved more suitable. Glass backboards were legalized by the professionals in 1908–09 and by colleges in 1909–10. In 1920–21 the backboards were moved 2 feet (0.6 meter), and in 1939–40 4 feet, in from the end lines to reduce frequent stepping out-of-bounds. Fan-shaped backboards were made legal in 1940–41.

A soccer ball (football) was used for the first two years. In 1894 the first basketball was marketed. It was laced, measured close to 32 inches (81 cm), or about 4 inches (10 cm) larger than the soccer ball, in circumference, and weighed less than 20 ounces (567 grams). By 1948–49, when the laceless molded ball was made official, the size had been set at about 30 inches (76 cm).

The first college to play the game was eitherGeneva College (Beaver Falls,Pennsylvania) or theUniversity 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 hadattended Springfield in 1890, wrote Naismith for a copy of the rules and also presented the game to his students. At Springfield, Kallenberg metAmos Alonzo Stagg, who became athletic director at the newUniversity of Chicago in 1892. The first college basketball game with five on a side was played between the University of Chicago and the University of Iowa inIowa City on January 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:collegiate, YMCA–Amateur Athletic Union, those used by 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, Amateur Athletic Union, and YMCA formed the Joint Rules Committee in 1915. This group was renamed theNational 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 theNational Federation of State High School Associations likewise assumed the task of establishing separate playing rules for the high schools. TheNational Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Rules Committee for men is a 12-member board representing all three NCAA divisions. It has six members from Division I schools and three each from Divisions II and III. It hasjurisdiction over colleges, junior colleges, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and Armed Forces basketball. There is a similar body for women’s play.

Growth of the game

Basketball grew steadily but slowly in popularity and importance in the United States and internationally in the first three decades afterWorld War II. Interest in the game deepened as a result of television exposure, but with the advent ofcable television, especially during the 1980s, the game’s popularity exploded at all levels. Given a timely mix of spectacular players—such asEarvin (“Magic”) Johnson,Julius Erving (“Dr. J”),Larry Bird, andMichael Jordan—and the greatly increased exposure, basketball moved quickly to the forefront of the American sporting scene, alongside such traditional leaders asbaseball and football. Four areas of the game developed during this period: U.S. high school and college basketball, professional basketball, women’s basketball, and international basketball.