The Father of Basketball Was My Father-in-Law, by Grace Naismith

The Father of Basketball Was My Father-in-Law, by Grace Naismith

Springfield College--Alumni and alumnae; Basketball--History; Springfield College--Faculty; International Young Men's Christian Association Training School (Springfield, Mass.); Springfield College;

Basketball; Naismith; Dr. James Naismith; Springfield College; Springfield; Sports;

This is a piece written by Grace Naismith, whose father-in-law was the great, Dr. James Naismith. Speaking with a great degree of admiration, she gives a unique personal account of what it meant to have Dr. Naismith as a father-in-law. Dr. James Naismith was a student at Springfield College from 1890-1891. Upon completing his one-year program to become a physical director for the YMCA, he took a position as a full-time faculty member at Springfield College, a position he kept through the spring of 1895. Just prior to the Christmas break in 1891, with the intent to appease a restless secretary department physical exercise class, he designed a new game: Basketball. A quote on his application may sum up best why and how he created this wonderful sport. In reply to why he desired to become a YMCA Physical Director, Naismith simply states, “My life work is to do good to men and serve God and wherever I can do this best is where I want to go.”

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Last page is not original, it is a photocopy. Blank pages in typescript manuscript were not scanned.

Naismith, Grace

Springfield College

1950

2010-02-02

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MS 506 James Naismith Papers

http://www.spfldcol.edu/homepage/library.nsf/78D4B8F1DEB9FDC38525741100498AC9/F44DC1765001AE1185257639005992AE?OpenDocument

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