Biographical Note

James Naismith was born in Almonte, Ontario, Canada on November 6, 1861. He was orphaned at age ten and raised by his maternal grandmother and then uncle. Although he dropped out of high school for several years, he later returned and graduated. Naismith continued his education at McGill University in Montreal with an A.B. in 1887 and Presbyterian College—also in Montreal—with a religion degree in 1890. R. Tait McKenzie, the noted educator, physician, and sculptor, was also born in Almonte (1867), and he and Naismith were childhood friends, fellow students at McGill, and later colleagues.

In 1890 Naismith moved to Springfield, Massachusetts in order to attend the YMCA Training School (which became the International YMCA Training School in 1891 and is now Springfield College) and study physical education as a student in the School’s special one-year course. Naismith also became an instructor at the school that same year. Naismith played center on the School’s first football team under the direction of Amos Alonzo Stagg. At his 1891 commencement, Naismith read his essay “Psychology of Exercise.” During his time at the YMCA Training School (1890-1895), Naismith instructed such courses as “Animal Mechanics,” “Study of the Bible by Books,” “Psychology,” “Ethics,” “Methods of Christian Work,” “Outline Study of Man,” and “Man as an Individual.” He was also an instructor during the Physical Department’s summer sessions, instructing courses like “Anthropometry” and “Swedish System of Gymnastics” (1891). Along with fellow students A.A. Stagg, W.H. Ball, W.O. Black, and W.E. Ninde, Naismith was one of the founding editors of the Physical Department’s student publication “The Triangle,” which started in February 1891 and became “Physical Education” in March 1892. He contributed numerous articles and editorials to this journal during his time at Springfield and was also elected editor of the publishing company that developed out of this venture, the Triangle Publishing Company, alongside Luther H. Gulick, president, and Frank N. Seerley, business manager. Naismith is best known as being the father or inventor of basketball, which he created in 1891 at the YMCA Training School in an effort to provide the students with a game to play indoors during the winter months. Although he left Springfield in the mid-1890s, Naismith remained one of the College’s corporators until his death in 1939.

Naismith moved to Denver, Colorado after he had completed his training in Springfield. In Denver he served as the physical education director of the YMCA and also attended medical school at the University of Colorado. He earned his medical degree in 1898, and then he and his family moved to Kansas, where Naismith worked at the University of Kansas as an associate professor, the chapel director, and the University physician. Naismith also coached the University’s first basketball team. In 1936, Naismith traveled to Berlin, Germany to attend the first Olympic basketball game. He retired from the University of Kansas in 1937, and he died two years later on November 28, 1939 in Lawrence, Kansas.

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