8 Comments
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Ian Forsyth's avatar

The good folks in Almonte Ontario might have some input to the story.

Darrell's avatar

Now you have me curious. It sounds like you know there is more to the story..

Ian Forsyth's avatar

Naismith was from Almonte Ontario where he developed basket ball. Rules and organization happened in USA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Naismith

Darrell's avatar

I get it. Guess I understood the original 13 rules was developed by him but I can understand your position.

Neural Foundry's avatar

Fantastic piece on Naismith. What really gets me is how that two-week deadline forced creative constraint thinking, not just letting him tinker forever. Sometimes the best innovations come from having to ship something quickly rather than perfecting it. I've noticed similar patterns in tech startups where tight deadlines end up producing more elegant solutions tahn open-ended timelines.

Melissa's avatar

YMCA’s have changed over the years.

And nice to see the invention of basketball properly credited to a Canadian.

SPW's avatar

Now you’ve got me heading to the Google machine to find out more about the YWCAs as the Y in my hometown played a big part in both my mom’s life and mine several years later and for a number of years.

Loved the basketball back story. Coming from one of the original ACC states that enjoy the sport still, it used to be a big part of my former life.

Sue Tremallo's avatar

I moved to Massachusetts many years ago and have become a Boston Celtics fan. I know about, and have visited the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, but I was unaware of Naismith's background and the actual history of basketball. Thank you, Bill, for another great piece about Naismith, basketball and the YMCA.