HISTORY OF BASKETBALL Dr. James Naismith is known world-wide as the inventor of Basketball. He was born in 1861 in Ramsay township, near Almonte, Ontario, Canada. The concept of basketball was born from his school days in the area where he played a simple child's game called duck-on-a-rock outside of his schoolhouse. The game had a purpose to knock a "duck" off the top of a large rock by throwing another rock at it. Naismith then …showed first 75 words of 922 total…

…showed last 75 words of 922 total…players. The soccer balls that were originally used were replaced by regulation basketballs. 1891 - Dr. James Naismith invented the game of basketball. 1892 - The first public basketball game is played. 1893 - The first women's basketball game is played and the first backboards are introduced. 1894 - Basketballs replace soccer balls. 1898 - The first basketball professional league is created. 1949 - The NBA is formed. 1954 - The 24 second shot clock is introduced. 1976 - The ABA and NBA merge.