HE invented one of the biggest and most lucrative sports in the world but he is almost unknown in his Scottish ancestral home where his game remains a minority pursuit.
But that could be about to change with discussions about creating a James Naismith Basketball Centre in Scotland to mark the founder's heritage and the sport’s birthday.
Naismith, the son of Scottish immigrants to Canada, came up with idea of the game in an effort to pacify rowdy students he was teaching in a harsh US winter. He published the original rules of “Basket Ball” 125 years ago today.
He hailed “the stubbornness of my Scotch ancestry” for his persistence in devising the game — but even basketball’s few top Scottish players are unaware of his roots.
But now a leading figure in the NBA (National Basketball Association), the sport's governing body, has pledged to promote Naismith’s ancestry to improve coaching and facilities in the UK.
Neal Meyer, associate vice president for basketball operations at NBA Europe, said: “James Naismith has a big place in the heart of the NBA and everything it does for creating a game that ranks only behind football as a global sport.
“The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is where legendary players, coaches and people who have impacted on the game are celebrated and recognised for their contribution to basketball. I knew he had some Scottish connections but it’s not widely known in the NBA, as far as I know.
“The NBA is trying to grow basketball in the UK, including working with Basketball Scotland. We may be able to utilise this unique connection to engage a part of the world where there isn’t a huge amount of basketball history.
He added: “Football and rugby are king in the UK so it’s not played in schools, and kids aren’t introduced to basketball until they are much older. The infrastructure for coaching and the availability for facilities is difficult, because there’s not a lot of places for kids to play.
“The weather has an impact too as it’s a sport that’s played outdoors around the world, whereas there is a limit to how long you can play outside in the UK so the facilities are lacking.
“It would be an interesting project to have a facility named after him in Scotland to celebrate his Scottish links.
I will be in touch with the Scottish governing body in the coming weeks, and that might become an interesting conversation.”
Kieron Achara, captain of Team GB and Glasgow Rocks, started playing at the relatively late age of 15 and only heard of Naismith when he went to study in the US.
Even he wasn’t aware of Naismith’s Scottish connection, but he has pledged to promote this more widely in his role as a club development manager at Basketball Scotland. “I always wondered if he had Scottish connections with a name like Naismith, and it’s fascinating to learn that he actually had Scottish roots,” he said.
“It’s a great marketing tool for the governing body to grow the game here. We’re renowned for our great inventors, and I’m proud that a Scotsman invented the game I love.”
Naismith was born in 1861 in Lanark County, Canada, to Scots-born parents John and Margaret.
Lanark was established around 50 years earlier by Scottish migrants, who called its capital Perth and its main watercourse the River Tay.
His parents maintained their Scottish customs and he always regarded Scotland as his spiritual home.
He was an outstanding athlete at school and at university in Canada where he graduated with a degree in physical education. In 1891 he was working as a YMCA physical education teacher in Springfield, Massachusetts, and was tasked developing a new indoor sport to keep bored and rowdy students active during the harsh New England winter.
He tried adapting American football, soccer and lacrosse but found the indoor setting restrictive and sometimes downright deadly. “It was worse than losing a game,” he said. “All the stubbornness of my Scotch ancestry was aroused, all my pride of achievement urged me on, I would not go back and admit that I had failed.”
He grabbed a soccer ball and and a couple of fruit baskets and devised a game more akin to modern netball, with no running or dribbling with the ball. He published the rules in the Springfield YMCA school newspaper The Triangle on January 15 1892.
The following year he visited Scotland for the first time, ostensibly to buy a suit for his wedding but, according to his daughter, it was so he could see the motherland before he had a wife in tow.
“He always wanted to go and why pay for two tickets when he could see all he wanted to for the price of one,” said daughter Margaret, echoing a Scottish stereotype. “That’s the Scotch for you. He knew it would take two tickets after he was married.”
The best man at his wedding was Robert Tait McKenzie, the Scots-Canadian physician and sculptor who designed the Scots American War Memorial in Edinburgh and ordered his heart to be buried nearby.
Naismith died on November 28 1939, aged 78, in Kansas. The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is located in Springfield, a long throw from where Naismith first invented the game
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