Creation of Basketball
Dr. James Naismith, a physical education professor at the International Young Men's Christian Association Training School (YMCA; now Springfield College) wanted to keep his gym class active during the winter. He needed to come up with a game that could be played in an indoor gym. So, Naismith created the original rules for "basket-ball" and nailed a peach basket 10 feet off of the ground. Originally the baskets had a bottom, but these were removed so when a basket was made, the ball could fall out the bottom and would not have to be poked out by a dowel. There was not a specific ball made for the game so a soccer ball was used. The first balls created specifically for the game were brown but were later changed to an orange color.