Formal challenge to all for basketball matches (January 11, 1894)
Description:
Four page document, containing copies of a letter written by a captain of the Springfield College basketball teams in 1894. Each captain writes a response to challenges for supremacy in the game by agreeing to meet for matches to determine the best team. Slam poetry ensues in response to the call for matches, perhaps the first documented trash talking in basketball. The captains were Dr. James Naismith (the creator of the game of Basketball), Albert B. Chase, Edwin P. Ruggles, and W. V. Dinman. Originals have been digitized and can be seen elsewhere in the Springfield College Archives.
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James A. Naismith (November 6, 1861 – November 28, 1939), known as "The Father of Basketball" was born in Almonte, Ontario. When he was nine, both of his parents died of typhoid fever and he was raised by his uncle, who later financed Naismith's way through college. He earned his theological degree from McGill University and graduated from Springfield College, then the YMCA Training School, in 1891. After graduation, he was hired as a faculty member, where he taught for five years. It is in his first year as a faculty member at Springfield College that he created the game of Basketball as an activity for an unruly class. In 1895, Naismith enrolled at the Gross Medical School in Denver and received his M.D. in 1898. In that same year, Naismith took the position of department head of physical education at the University of Kansas, where he remained until his death.
