In 1891, a gym teacher in Springfield Massachusetts, wanted to invent a new game for his gym students to make exercising more fun.
The teacher, James Naismith, set up a court like the modern basketball court, and called for square boxes at each end that players would have to try to throw the ball into. But square boxes weren’t available, so round peach baskets were used instead, and the game immediately became known as “basketball.”
As the game quickly became popular, hoops and nets were used instead of baskets. But it wasn’t until 1912, about 20 years after Naismith invented the game, that basketball nets were made with a hole in the bottom so that the ball would drop through after each basket.
Before that, the referee had to use a long pole to poke the ball free after each basket!
